


Fortune Favors the Bold

by Lizardbeth



Series: Fortune [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Age of Sail, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Pirate, Angst with a Happy Ending, BAMF Sif (Marvel), F/M, Implied/Referenced Torture, Psychological Trauma, Revenge, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-01
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:09:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 28,621
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28473705
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lizardbeth/pseuds/Lizardbeth
Summary: Now that Captain Sif knows Prince Loki is alive, she plans his rescue from the clutches of the mysterious Black Order of Pirates.
Relationships: Loki/Sif (Marvel)
Series: Fortune [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2085525
Comments: 70
Kudos: 51





	1. The news

**Author's Note:**

> This fic immediately follows "Fortune Favors".
> 
> Please read that first.

Thor was eager to receive them, and after Sif's quiet request, he sent the others away for them to speak privately in the drawing room.

Thor shook hands with Strange, disdaining his attempt to bow. "Doctor. How good to see you again. I see Lady Sif has found you and you must know something or you would not have come," he said and waved them to be seated. "Please. Tell me what you know of the cube and these villains?"

She exchanged a glance at Strange, and then said gently, "Thor, there's something you need to know right away." 

Strange hesitated to choose his words carefully. "As you remembered, I have training in more esoteric mysteries and powers. It was that I used to see from this cube to another that matches it in another place. And I - well, I-"

"He saw Loki," Sif finished for him, her hands tightly clasped in her lap. "I saw him, too. I saw him. He's alive." 

Thor sank back in his wingchair, staring at her. "But... that cannot be. He perished in the attack...."

She shook her head. "No. He was captured. The survivors merely assumed he'd been killed, I suppose because they were told they were the only survivors."

"So then, you saw him, a prisoner? Why was there no ransom demand? Father would have- I would have-" he jumped back to his feet, urgent and anguished at the idea his little brother had been languishing in captivity all this time. 

She rather wished it were true. "No. We saw him in some sort of room, perhaps a ship cabin or wood-paneled drawing room, wearing black clothes and he was not a prisoner." 

Thor blinked in confusion. "Not a prisoner. Then what are you saying? He was captured and escaped? Cannot find his way home?"

Strange cut in, not without sympathy but with little willingness to let Thor think the wrong conclusion. "He has become one of them, the Black Order, Your Highness. I touched his mind briefly, and I saw only darkness. No recognition. Whatever the master does to his Order, was done to him. He is out there, somewhere, with no awareness of his true identity. A servant to evil." 

Thor collapsed back down on the window seat, staring blindly out the narrow window toward the tall trees on the other side of the pond. "What do I tell my parents?" he asked hoarsely. "How do I tell them of this? That Loki lives and yet is still gone?" He shook himself once and faced Strange. "Where is he?"

"I don't know yet," Strange answered, and Thor's shoulders slumped in despair. "But Lady Sif wanted to meet with you so we may lay a plan to locate and rescue him." 

"How can we do that when you don't know where he is?" Thor asked. But he didn't wait for an answer, instead coming to Sif, grabbing her hands and pulling her close. "He's alive, Sif. Alive." He leaned close to her resting his forehead against hers. His breathing hitched as he tried to keep himself under control.

Her hands gripped his and she shut her eyes, feeling the threat of tears again, but this time in joy. "We can get him back, I'm sure of it."

"Whatever it takes," he promised. "We will bring him home." 

* * *

They told the king and queen next, in private. At first the king wouldn't believe it, disdaining magical means of discovering the impossible and not daring to hope his son was still alive, but then Strange shrugged off his scarlet cape and sent it flying about the room. After that, King Odin was stunned but he believed, and Queen Frigga dissolved into tears.

Sif comforted her and then, when all were back at even keel, they began to discuss a plan. Fearing the Black Order's mysterious master and with the knowledge that at least one of them was a sorcerer like the doctor, they decided to keep the news quiet at first, lest their enemies learn of their discovery of the truth. 

"You don't think he saw you? Or at least knew that one of the Cubes had fallen in the wrong hands? They must know the _Excelsior_ is home again," Thor pointed out.

"I think he saw someone, yes," Strange admitted with a nod. "And they may retreat or change locations, believing discovery is imminent."

"And yet," The king murmured, "As with a mole in a hole, it is the movement above ground we may see, not their burrow." 

"There are still the charts I found on the ship, Majesty, That may be some help in discovering their lair. And to set a trap." 

"Set a trap with what?" Thor asked.

She dampened her lips and looked to the king and queen, before suggesting, "They took the prince deliberately, I think. They hit the _Jormungandr_ almost immediately after it left; and it has always sat ill with me that they were waiting for it. As if there is some enmity there."

"Or arrogance," Frigga murmured. "One takes a prince as a ... servant," her voice choked on the word, and Sif pressed her hand, "to prove one is higher station."

"Possibly resentment," said Strange in his deep voice, "So I do wonder of personal enemies, Your Grace. The attacks have been against Asgard specifically."

"Yes, I have wondered, myself. And it is a question I have no answer," the king said. "Nor will I have one tomorrow when I speak to the ambassadors of Jotunheim and Vanaheim. I will suggest to them that pirates have merely hit us by chance so far."

"And if it is not chance, Your Grace, and it is directed against Asgard, then," Sif's eyes met Strange's and she saw the recognition of her idea. He nodded. "Our trap must be something of Asgard that they cannot resist." 

And Thor knew it as well, as he said, "Me. You mean to bait them with me."

"Preposterous!" Odin exclaimed. "Impossible and dangerous. I will not allow my heir to put himself as a bait in a trap for murderous pirates." 

And that, would ordinarily have been the end of it, but Thor shook his head. "Father. How else do we assure an attack at a time and place of our choosing if not the most tempting bait?" 

Odin shook his head. "No. Do you not see, my son? This master villain will send your brother against you." Sif felt sick. She'd not considered Loki would be the one to attack, but of course the king was right. What else would evil do? 

Odin added, "I do not think I - or your mother - could bear that." 

"It need not be true," Frigga pointed out into the silence. "Thor could go aboard your ship with full panoply, so any eyes may believe he is departing, but sneak off out of sight." 

"No, I will do no such thing," Thor refused. "Sneak off like a thief!"

"There is another possibility," Strange suggested. "If you do not mind some deception. I am the prince's height and I can manage enough illusion to appear as him in his garb." 

"You can do this?" Odin demanded. "Show me." He gestured to the floor between them.

The doctor's lips pressed together as if he was unaccustomed to performing on command to any audience, no matter how royal, and Sif recalled that he kept his abilities a secret. Perhaps there had been more than one reason for that.

But nonetheless, he rose to his feet, took a long look at Thor, then re-faced the king. He held up both hands and the golden fire circles appeared. He seemed to turn them, and their arcane symbols along the edge shifted as if a clockwork, and he clenched his fists. The circles disappeared, and in their place stood... Thor. 

It was not quite Thor, she noticed after the first startled gasp. He still wore the Doctor's clothes, and there was something peculiar about his skin, as if it was not quite solid. "I can hold it for a short time. The less I have to change, the longer it will last." 

"His clothes, a bulky cape, and a hat," Frigga ticked off on her fingers, "closed carriage to the port. Though you will have to be seen both getting in and getting out. Learn his stance- you do not stand as Thor does at all. And you, my son, must remain in seclusion in the palace until we have our victory. Else it is for nothing." 

Thor folded his arms. "I should go. It is my risk to take, and if Loki is there, he will need to see me, not some imposter." 

"Sif will be there," Frigga consoled, but Thor was not having it.

"I should be there, too! I knew him longer. He's my brother, I can't leave him there," he turned imploring blue eyes on his father. "Please. I need to help him." 

"Oh, son," Odin looked at him, searching for words, then said brusquely. "Leave us." 

Sif saluted and left, while Strange followed quickly behind. 

Two rooms away, they waited. "He won't go," she predicted. "I don't think they'll take the risk. So we'll have to use your plan."

He cocked his head. 'You aren't upset that he won't go? It might be the difference between failure and success."

"Perhaps. But that works in the opposite, too. We will be able to do more of what we deem necessary without supervision." 

"Ah." He nodded understanding and there was no more to be said until at last the door opened and Thor let himself in. His forlorn expression made it no difficulty to guess his pleas had landed on deaf ears, but he shook his head in the negative. "He will not allow it."

"We will do our best," she promised. "And bring him home."

"And if we fail," Strange pointed out, "You will have one more opportunity to draw them in yourself."

He lightened at that. "I suppose that's true. But in the meantime, we will do all we can to make the plan a success. I think Father intends on informing Vanaheim of a state visit to be our excuse for voyage." 

She nodded, calculating. "Good that will give us lead time enough they hear about it." 

"But so long. Months, probably," Thor looked disheartened. "Anything might happen in between. His ship could be defeated by some galleon who will never know it's him. Or lost in a storm." 

"Thor," she rested her hand on his arm. "It has already been years," she reminded him. "And a foolish plan will end poorly. We must do this right."

His lips twisted. "I was never very patient, Sif. You know this. And if it still ends poorly because we waited too long?"

She cast her eyes down, heart aching at the idea. "Then we will know it was not to be," she murmured. "But I do not believe it. We found out in time. I found the key in the _Excelsior_ , and we will rescue Loki and destroy this monster."

"And we will not give up until he is free," Thor swore, taking her hand with the ring on it between his. "And returned to you, where he belongs." 

She dashed at her eyes with her other hand. "Yes, may that day be soon."


	2. The plan

They told the king and queen next, in private. At first the king wouldn't believe it, disdaining magical means of discovering the impossible and not daring to hope his son was still alive, but then Strange shrugged off his scarlet cape and sent it flying about the room. After that, King Odin was stunned but he believed, and Queen Frigga dissolved into tears.

Sif comforted her and then, when all were back at even keel, they began to discuss a plan. Fearing the Black Order's mysterious master and with the knowledge that at least one of them was a sorcerer like the doctor, they decided to keep the news quiet at first, lest their enemies learn of their discovery of the truth. 

"You don't think he saw you?" Thor asked. "Or at least knew that one of the Cubes had fallen in the wrong hands? They must know the _Excelsior_ was taken back."

"I think he saw someone, yes, though I blocked him from a close look," Strange admitted with a nod. "So perhaps they will be more cautious."

"And yet," The king murmured, "As with a mole in a hole, it is the movement above ground we may see, not their burrow." 

"There are still the charts I found on the ship, Majesty, That may be some help in discovering their lair. And to set a trap." 

"Set a trap with what?" Thor asked.

She dampened her lips and looked to the king and queen, before suggesting, "They took the prince deliberately, I think. They hit the _Jormungandr_ almost immediately after it left; and it has always sat ill with me that they were waiting for it. As if there is some enmity there."

"Or arrogance," Frigga murmured. "One takes a prince as a ... servant," her voice choked on the word, and Sif pressed her hand, "to prove one is higher station."

"Possibly resentment," said Strange in his deep voice, "So I do wonder of personal enemies, Your Grace. The attacks have been against Asgard specifically."

"Yes, I have wondered, myself. And it is a question I have no answer," the king said. "Ancient resentments and modern rivalries seem insufficient to explain any of this. Nor will I have an explanation tomorrow when I speak to the ambassadors of Jotunheim and Vanaheim. I will suggest to them that pirates have merely hit us by chance so far."

"And if it is not chance, Your Grace, and it is directed against Asgard, then," Sif's eyes met Strange's and she saw the recognition of her idea. He nodded. "Our trap must be something of Asgard that they cannot resist." 

And Thor knew it as well, as he said, "Me. You mean to bait them with me."

"Preposterous!" Odin exclaimed. "Impossible and dangerous. I will not allow my heir to put himself as a bait in a trap for murderous pirates." 

And that, would ordinarily have been the end of it, but Thor shook his head. "Father. How else do we assure an attack at a time and place of our choosing if not the most tempting bait?" 

Odin shook his head. "No. Do you not see, my son? This master villain will send your brother against you." Sif felt sick. She'd not considered Loki would be the one to attack, but of course the king was right. What else would evil do? 

Odin added, "I do not think I - or your mother - could bear that." 

"It need not be true," Frigga pointed out into the silence. "Thor could go aboard your ship with full panoply, so any eyes may believe he is departing, but sneak off out of sight." 

"No, I will do no such thing," Thor refused. "Sneak off like a thief!"

"There is another possible stratagem," Strange suggested. "If you do not mind some deception. I am the prince's height and I can manage enough illusion to appear as him in his garb." 

"You can do this?" Odin demanded. "Show me." He gestured to the floor between them.

The doctor's lips pressed together as if he was unaccustomed to performing on command to any audience, no matter how royal, and Sif recalled that he kept his abilities a secret. Perhaps there had been more than one reason for that.

But nonetheless, he rose to his feet, took a long look at Thor, then re-faced the king. He held up both hands and the golden fire circles appeared. He seemed to turn them, and their arcane symbols along the edge shifted as if a clockwork, and he clenched his fists. The circles disappeared, and in their place stood... Thor. 

It was not quite Thor, she noticed after the first startled gasp. He was wearing a copy of Thor's clothes, but there was something peculiar about them, as if they were not quite solid. It was the doctor's voice, too, which was quite odd as he said, "I can hold it for a short time. The less I have to change, the longer it will last." 

"His clothes, a bulky cape, and a hat," Frigga ticked off on her fingers, "A closed carriage to the port. Though you will have to be seen both getting in and getting out. Learn his stance-- you do not stand as Thor does at all. And you, my son, must remain in seclusion in the palace until we have our victory. Else it is for nothing." 

Thor folded his arms. "I should go. It is my risk to take, and if Loki is there, he will need to see me, not some imposter." 

"Sif will be there," Frigga consoled, but Thor was not having it.

"I should be there, too! I knew him longer. He's my brother, I can't leave him there," he turned imploring blue eyes on his father. "Please. I need to help him." 

"Oh, son," Odin looked at him, searching for words, then commanded brusquely, "Leave us." 

Sif saluted and left, while Strange followed quickly behind. 

Two rooms away, they waited. "He won't go," she predicted. "I don't think they'll take the risk. So we'll have to use your plan."

He cocked his head. "You aren't upset that he won't go? It might be the difference between failure and success."

"Perhaps. But that works in the opposite, too. We will be able to do more of what we deem necessary without supervision." 

He nodded understanding and there was no more to be said until at last the door opened and Thor let himself in. His forlorn expression made it no difficulty to guess his pleas had landed on deaf ears, but he shook his head in the negative. "He will not allow it."

"We will do our best," she promised. "And bring him home."

"And if we fail," Strange pointed out, "You will have one more opportunity to draw them in yourself."

He lightened at that. "I suppose that's true. But in the meantime, we will do all we can to make the plan a success. I think Father intends on informing Vanaheim of a state visit to be our excuse for voyage." 

She nodded, calculating. "Good that will give us lead time enough they hear about it." 

"But so long. Months, probably." Thor looked disheartened. "Anything might happen in between. His ship could be defeated by some galleon who will never know it's him. Or lost in a storm." 

"Thor," she rested her hand on his arm. "It has already been years," she reminded him. "And a foolish plan will end poorly. We must do this right."

His lips twisted. "I was never very patient, Sif. You know this. And if it still ends poorly because we waited too long?"

She cast her eyes down, heart aching at the idea. "Then we will know it was not to be," she murmured. "But I do not believe it. We found out in time. I found the key in the _Excelsior_ , and we will rescue Loki and destroy this monster."

"And we will not give up until he is free," Thor swore, taking her hand with the ring on it between his. "And returned to you, where he belongs." 

She dashed at her eyes with her other hand. "Yes, may that day be soon."

* * *

Thor was right in a way, that it did seem to take too long. The preparations were extensive, both the pretend ones for Thor's state visit, and the real one of preparing her ship for another battle. She enjoyed that part more, checking the supplies and armaments. 

Strange didn't want to tip their hand by using the stone too often, but he did use it with her on the occasion of Loki's birthday so she could hope for a glimpse of him. But she saw nothing, and Strange had to reassure her that all it meant was likely the coffer where he kept his stone was closed. 

He touched another of the Black Order stones, though, and they spied a different room, and a large figure hidden mostly in shadow before Strange had disengaged. The room had stone walls, as in a fortress or old manor house without plaster, and Sif occupied herself the evening after by sketching all she could remember of the room and its environs, with aid from the doctor. 

But neither of them could recall anything very distinctive. It looked like old stonework but that could be almost anywhere. The desk, the torch bracket iron, it was all ordinary. She showed around the pictures, but it was no use. It was frustrating because she suspected that room belonged to the Black Order's hideout, and if this trick with fake Thor didn't work, they would have to find it. 

But eventually the day arrived as all days eventually did, and the sky was cloudy and a bit damp with yesterday's rain. She had smuggled the doctor in her own carriage into the palace to get ready, and waited in the sitting room with the queen as the play began its first act upstairs in the prince's suite.

"Do you think this will work, Sif?" Frigga asked, twisting her hands together anxiously once they were alone from prying eyes.

Sif had not allowed herself to think otherwise for the past seven weeks. That hard little knot of hope inside that she nurtured with the remembrance of his face sustained her every day. But Frigga hadn't seen Loki herself; she knew only what Sif and Strange could tell her. She hoped, but she also feared he would be lost again. 

It was no secret to Sif that Loki had been closer to his mother. Loki as a sickly child had been kept indoors more, tended by his mother's attention. His father had more doted on Thor as his heir and a miniature of himself in temperament, while Loki had taken more after his mother - quick of wit and tongue, scholarship, and appreciation for the arts and culture. Even as a child, he'd become a patrons of painters and musicians, scientists and explorers, just like his mother.

So Sif allowed herself no hesitation for the Queen's sake. "I do. It is a good plan, and my ship is ready if they should come. And my guest has power they cannot guess. We will have the victory, Your Grace, and if he is with them I will bring him home." 

"I pray so, Sif. This hell of knowing he is out there, perhaps doing harm to others unaware of his true self, perhaps being harmed by the one who took him, it is much to bear. And yet still, I think, I would take this meager life over his death, even if I never have him home again." 

Sif gripped her hand. "We shall. He will be walking into this room, flopping in that chair right there, just as he did, and announce how bored he is." The queen allowed herself a slight smile, able to picture it as well as Sif could because Loki had done that nearly every day. Sif added in lighter jest, "Just think how insufferably bored he will be after being a pirate." 

That startled a laugh out of Frigga, who nonetheless looked more relaxed afterward. She rose to her feet and with her immense dignity and kindness of which Sif could only hope she would someday bear herself, she held out a hand to Sif. "Come, you are family, and it is time to assemble." 

They gathered in the grand hall first with the rest of the court to see the prince off. It was remarkable, really. Thor must've coached the doctor more thoroughly than Sif had known about, because he looked just like Thor now. The way he walked in, the way he flourished his cape, the way he took up his spot before his father to gather his blessing and then be sent on his way to the applause, was all Thor. She could see nothing amiss in his performance, even looking for the flaw.

Sif got her own official royal thanks for taking Thor on this voyage and to be with him on his state visit, and then a quick embrace from Frigga as the party moved to the front steps to see Thor off. If anyone wondered why the king and queen were being more formal with Thor, it was certainly not unexpected that they had done their more familial farewells in private.

Sif climbed into the grand black royal carriage, ahead of Thor who was waving to the crowd and blowing kisses to his mother with a cheeky grin then he climbed in behind her, nearly running her down as she froze to stare at Stephen Strange sitting in the far corner of the carriage.

Moving slowly, she crawled to the left and shifted around to let Thor into the carriage. He plopped on the seat next to Strange, and grinned at her in unrepentant delight, very reminiscent of his brother's favorite expression, as the door slammed and the carriage lurched into motion.

"What is going on?" Sif asked. 

Thor leaned forward earnestly. "Well, it occurred to me that if Stephen can make an illusion of me, then he can put it on _me_ as well." 

She blinked, trying to figure that out. "To what end?" Since Thor was being deliberately unclear she set her eyes on Strange for the explanation for this abrupt change in plans.

More neutrally, Strange answered, "The prince reminded me that he had a duty to defend the realm and his brother." 

She folded her arms and glowered at Thor. "No. You are not. This is foolish and I want no part of it."

"But Sif--"

"No. And don't you dare try to pull rank on me. We had a plan! And now you're going to wreck it on this ill-advised change."

"It's my trip. My risk," he insisted.

"But you worsen the risk for the rest of us, including Loki." 

"How can you say that?" he demanded. "I can help. I'm a good fighter and sailor, you know this already."

"I can't defend you and try to get to him," she reminded him.

"You don't have to defend me."

"Of course I do. If you get killed, your father will have me executed, even if the fault was yours for coming along. If you get taken prisoner with him, then what? What if Loki kills you, not knowing who you are, and _then_ remembers? You think he would live with himself?"

He paled, looking stricken, at her barrage of words as she pointed out all the terrible reasons for him joining them after all. So she unbent to unfold her arms and reach for his arm. "Please, follow the plan. Allow me and the doctor to lay our trap and catch a wayward prince. We may yet need you to rescue him and remind him of who he truly is, but we have to catch him first. And you may not want to see that, my lord."

He frowned not understanding. "Why would I not wish to see that?"

"He knows us only as his enemies. He apparently has learned at least a little magic and perhaps a lot. If we are to take him, it may be violent and we may have to restrain him to bring him home." She looked down, biting her lip in distress. She was determined to see it through, but the price she might have to pay tugged at her heart. "He may never know me again," she whispered. "He may hate me for what I am about to do."

"He would never," Thor said staunchly, but she knew better. She might 'rescue' him, but bringing his body back to his home wasn't the same thing as returning his mind and heart to where it had been before capture.

"Of course he may. What if he's hurt in this battle and he blames me? I would not have this plan taint his love for you as well." 

Strange offered in reassurance, "There are techniques I learned in my wanderings and at Kamar-Taj that may yet heal him. Do not give up, my lady. You have more paths to bring him home than you know." 

She smiled at him in thanks, and then turned the conversation to the more practical, including what to do with the actual Thor while the fake one stepped out of the carriage and joined her on the _Valkyrie._

The two of them ended up exchanging clothes in the carriage while Sif curled up in the corner as small as she could and put her hat over her face so she couldn't see anything. Not that Thor had much she hadn't seen before, because he didn't mind walking around the family wing half-dressed and scandalous, but she thought the doctor might object to her attention.

What the driver thought of all the rocking in the carriage didn't bear thinking about.

"We're done," Thor said, nudging her with his knee against her leg.

It was uncanny. Even without the doctor's illusion shifting his face, in Thor's clothes he still looked ... princely. And it was odd until she realized he was an unnerving mix of both Thor and Loki, like an unnatural offspring of them, and she shut her eyes and shook her head to banish that thought. 

At the river, a riverboat waited that would take them downstream to the naval port where her ship was waiting.

Sif dismounted first, accepting the footman's hand to help her out, and turned to wait for 'the prince'. He stalked straight up the plank to the riverboat, and she instructed the carriage to take the doctor back to his abode. He'd given the key to Thor, and as long as he pulled the cloak's hood up, he should be reasonably disguised. 

The carriage headed off, and she walked up to join Strange who stood in the bow. She gave the orders in his stead to cast off and send them on their way. "Wave," she murmured, and waved to the people on shore who had come to see him. He imitated her, a bit more restrained than Thor would be in person, but it didn't matter so much she thought. As long as he was in view and any spies would be able to report he was on the move and she was there too, familiar in her naval white and blue. There were some who called her name, and Sif tossed silver pennies to the little girls who were pointing excitedly and saluting. 

At the quay, they disembarked where the dock was still a flurry of loading supplies. She saw "Thor" to the captain's cabin to pretend to rest, and went to tend to the finishing of the loading.

As she did her job with Hogun's help, her eyes flicked across the faces of strangers among the new sailors and loaders alike, wondering who was a spy. There had to be one, she thought. In fact there had to be one or this might not work. But who was it? 

"Will we be ready by evening tide?" she asked Hogun, who was checking off his list as barrels rolled aboard and were stacked. 

"I think so." He shrugged. "It's a short trip, not many supplies needed, really. We could make it as we are, I think." 

He didn't know the real plan, but he knew there was a possibility of another attack, so he had been extra careful loading munitions and repair materials in case. She'd also been sent an extra company of gunners than was standard for her ship to decrease her reload time on the guns, and an expanded marine contingent for boarding enemy vessels. They'd all come aboard in small groups, at odd times to hide the excessive numbers and some in plainclothes as if servants for the prince, since she had been afraid of tipping off the enemy to how hard a target her ship had become. Hogun had also overseen armoring the interior with metal plates bolted at the water line. 

She inspected the ship, Lieutenant Fandral of the marine contingent tagging with her, while Hogun stayed at the ramp. 

On word that they were about to leave, she knocked on the main cabin -- her cabin which was now the prince's - "Your Grace, we are about to cast off." 

He knew what to do, emerging again to stand at the rail and wave to the gathered crowd as her sailors gathered in the rope, added sail, and let the river current take them. Hogun had the wheel, while she stood with Thor, as the quayside started to go past a little faster. 

She lifted her face to the wind, glad to be headed out to sea again. 

"What will you do after he's returned?" he asked softly. "Assuming all is well?"

She caressed the rail. "I will leave my position. I only joined to avenge his murder," she answered. "I like it more than I expected. I love the sea and the ships. But I would trade all of it for him." She had to smile at that declaration realizing what that sounded like. "Of course, that also means being his princess. I am aware that no one will see that I sacrifice anything at all." 

He tipped his head at her. "We must often put something down before we can pick up something else."

"When did you get so wise?" she asked. "You're not so old as that." 

He raised Thor's eyebrows at her and yet looked exactly the doctor as he said, "Perhaps I'm older than I look." 

And she had no idea if he was telling the truth or not, but decided it was more fun not to know. 

* * *

tbc...


	3. The rescue

Because they'd left early enough, they caught the sundown breeze and headed out to sea. Sif had them hug the shore at first, unwilling to go far in the dark. 

In her cabin, she pulled the small casket from her own chest and set it on the table. "Dare we search to see if one is near?"

Strange had his own appearance in the cabin and had switched out of Thor's clothes. As soon as they were a bit farther out, she would inform the crew that the prince was not with them because they were hoping to find the pirates instead. 

"I think not," he said, fingering the casket, lips pursed. "If we reveal ourselves too soon, the enemy will know we wait." 

It was no more than she thought herself, but it was still disappointing to have it confirmed. "True. I just wish--" she trailed off, not wanting to voice her hope. 

"That we had confirmation the one we seek is close?" he asked. "That's understandable, captain. But even if it is another, it may yet be a clue to his whereabouts. Hold fast." 

She nodded.

As the sun set and the ship was alone on the water, she called all-hands to the deck. "You were told that this ship was transporting Prince Thor to his visit to Vanaheim. This is not our mission. The prince is not aboard. Instead, our mission - as assigned by the king himself, is to seek out and battle the pirates attacking our ships and our people in Jamaica. We are at war with them, though they may think we believe the attacks are random. We know they are not - they are directed by one hand, the unknown master of the several pirate ships called the Black Order. They are a menace and our job is stop them. It was our hope that the deception of His Highness being onboard would draw one of these pirates to us. Which is why we will continue to fly the Royal Standard, though the prince is not here. We carry instead - " she gestured and the doctor came forward in his sweeping red cape, billowing in the sea breeze, "this is Doctor Strange, who has scientific knowledge to help us in this fight. And may or may not have been wearing his highness' clothes as he boarded," she said. "Lieutenant Fandral, are your men prepared?" 

"We are, Captain," Fandral returned with a firm nod. He did not seem surprised at the change of plans, perhaps he had realized the beefing up on the marines on board and lack of royal servants had suggested this plan all along.

"Are my sailors prepared?" she called out to the rest of the crew, and they returned an eager "Aye Captain!" 

She dismissed them back to duties, and jumped down from top of the rigging box. Few had questions, though she then took Hogun and Fandral into their confidence, so he would know not to kill Prince Loki if the prince happened to be on an attacking ship. 

"The doctor knows of this Black Order, and has advised me, and the King on how to battle it. He is the one who brought word that the prince was among them, alive. We hope his ship, if he has one, will be the one to attack us." 

"And if he fights me?" Fandral asked.

"Do your best to subdue," she commanded. "He does not know himself, we think. This mysterious head of the Black Order seems to be able to shift men's minds somehow."

Hogun nodded, and told Fandral. "They all took poison, even "Obsidian" the captain, when we retook the _Excelsior_."

"We need to stop that, too, if we can," Sif said heavily. "Though we do not know how it happened."

Hogun shook his head, grimacing. "I saw no one drink anything, or eat. They must have done it before or during our own counter-attack, before boarding."

"How do we stop such a horror?" Fandral asked in dismay.

"We do not," Strange answered flatly. "We can only hope to be quicker and bolder." 

"Can you do that, lieutenant?"

"Give the word, captain, and we will go. As quick and bold as you wish." 

She nodded and told him to see to his men, telling them what they might need to know of the enemy they faced.

When he was gone, Sif looked to Hogun. "Start our turn east. 8 degrees. We will head to open water. I hope if they await us in the strait we may now come at them from the north." 

Hogun swallowed the rest of his wine cup and set the cup back into the slot in the table. "Understood." 

After he'd gone she added to the doctor, "Ideally, sun in their eyes, wind at my back, but I'll take an unexpected direction. Hopefully." She tapped her knuckles on the wooden tabletop, praying silently to anyone out there who was listening to bring her Loki back.

* * *

The ship cut through the water on a generally east-southeast course to get back in the channel. The lookout up top saw nothing all through the night and into the early morning.

But after Sif and the doctor had finished their breakfast of eggs on toast, she heard the cry go up outside and they both hurried on deck.

"Captain, ship at 2 o'clock," Hogun reported. She hurried up the steps to the prow, Strange and Hogun both following, and opened her spyglass to look for herself. 

It was far on the horizon, barely a shadow against the distance clouds, but it was definitely a ship of some kind. She watched, tense, waiting for the moment. 

"Is it them?" Stephen murmured.

"It's someone, for sure, still on course..." she said and then she saw the sails seem to get bigger as the enemy ship shifted direction. "Ah. No, there they go. They've seen us." She snapped the spyglass back down and turned, with it in hand. "Full sail, one quarter off, Lieutenant Hogun. Let's pretend we're running." 

"Aye, Captain." He turned and started bellowing orders. Sif stayed on the quarterdeck to watch, keeping her eye on the ship. 

"So what now?" Strange asked. 

"Now we lure them close, hopefully we cross them to go upwind, catch them and broadside."

"You're sure it's them?"

"Generally speaking, if they pursue, they're not friendly. And honestly I'd rather this than they feign distress." She snapped out the spyglass to look again. "Damn, they've gained fast. Whoever they have knows what they're doing." The shape of the ship was now close enough, and her hand tightened, shaking a little. "Damn them to hell." She swallowed hard. "It's the _Jormungandr_." The doctor hissed a breath through his teeth of dismay, but she was now angry. "Because of course it is, why not rub the salt a little harder? I'm going to make that bastard sorry he was born," she promised.

The oath steadied her hand and she was able to focus again, looking at the oncoming ship. "And I see-" she squinted trying to focus. "Dutch flag. Again. Interesting. But it's definitely them." She stood at the quarterdeck rail and called, "All hands, prepare for battle."

The _Jormungandr_ took two hours to catch them as her ship didn't quite go fast enough. She waited, patient as a viper, as the enemy crept closer. She used her spyglass, to watch for them to make the move to go windward and to look for her opponent. Did she hope for a tall slim figure in black with dark hair, or someone else that she could fire cannon at without qualm? 

She told herself to stop looking; all that would do would cause heartbreak and second-guessing. She had a battleplan to execute, and the faster it finished, the safer for everyone it would be. 

Reviewing what she knew of the _Jormungandr_ \- a ship meant for transportation, not war - it was fast but not especially well-armed. Like the _Excelsior_ , it had probably been fitted with more guns, but could not have the capacity hers did. Nor, she was sure, would it have the new cannon fixed to the prow if they got lucky enough to position for ranking fire. That would be absolutely devastating if she could get the shot, but according to the Admiralty that was only likely if they were in retreat and she was pursuing. But still, she liked knowing she had a weapon if her enemy exposed its rear to her.

_Attack a warship, pirate? You're about to get more than you bargained for._

The _Jormungandr_ grew closer, so now she could catch its details without her spyglass, and she heard the crew realize which ship it was. "For the prince!" Lieutenant Fandral cried and the crew took it up.

She smiled grimly to herself. A motivated crew to fight was a fearsome thing; and though they had been generally enthusiastic before, now with their prince's own ship in view, they were ready to take it back.

"Be ready," she cautioned Hogun. "He'll have to tack soon or miss us."

The key was to move just as _Jormungandr_ did and leave them leeward.

Hogun called the orders, and Sif noticed Strange was still on deck. "You should go below, doctor, and stay to the interior. It's about to get very loud."

He shook his head. "If I can help, I should stay above." His bare hands flexed with demonstration, and she nodded.

She watched, tense, and raised her hand out to her side in a ready position. They were close enough now to hear the other ship and indistinct shouts and the creaking of rigging. In a few minutes it would be too late, as her ship slipped eastward at a fast clip.

The other captain had to know they were ready by now, since her ship wasn't running full with the wind anymore. So it was a game for who would lose their nerve first. If he went too early, she might slip away leeward; too late, and she'd broadside them as they cruised past. Fortunately she had enough crew she didn't have to pick a side, which he might not know thinking the ship was full of royal courtiers.

Only a handful of heartbeats later, it happened; the _Jormungandr's_ mainsail shifted as the tiller went hard over. She dropped her hand, and Hogun shouted, "Now!'

Her own tiller went hard over as the yardarm swung over the deck, a few sailors ducking with practiced ease. 

_Come on, come on_ , she urged her ship silently as the whole vessel creaked mightily and the sails filled with wind again. A lucky swell pushed them a little more and they made the turn, cutting the Jormungandr's forward path and staying windward.

"Batteries ready!" she commanded. 

She could see them now as the Jormungandr slipped leeward and Hogun knew what to do, ordering commands to clip the sail and keep them on target. 

For one frozen moment, she looked at the black-clad enemy on the other ship, glad she recognized none of them at first glance. "Fire!"

The roar of twelve cannons was tremendous, shaking her own ship, and seconds later heavy metal pounded into the Jormungandr's side just as they got their shot off. 

She swore as mighty crack announced a casualty - the foremast had been hit. Luckily only the top third, someone had arced too high. 

But she didn't forget her plan. "Close in!" 

Ordinarily this would be suicidal, but if she didn't put a quick end to this, the _Jormungandr_ crew would be dead anyway. "Fandral, ready!" 

Down on the main deck he nodded and his men stepped up with grapples. Her ship closed in, and the _Jormungandr_ no longer could maneuver well as they took the wind and because of damage to their main sail. The grapples sailed across the gap, two missed and falling harmlessly away, but four grabbed the railing. And though the enemy crew tried to remove them, her crew pulled tight making that hard and all the marines pulled, forcing the ships closer. 

A gun fired, and she tensed knowing it was too late if it was aimed at her. Pistol wasn't likely to hit, but if someone had a rifle over there... But a ring of golden fire cast from the doctor's hands formed a sort of shield between the ships. The bullets struck it, and dropped harmlessly to the sea below.

With a tremendous creak of wood and billowing sail, her ship's starboard side bumped the other hard, sending it rocking hard over.

When she looked again, she had a good view of their quarterdeck and a tall figure in a black cloak. He was bare headed, to show dark hair loose and wild on his shoulders.

Loki. It was him, she could see him clearly now. He wasn't looking at her, but something in his gloved hand that glinted gold. At first she thought it might be another of the Heavenly cubes, then realized it was a cup. 

Poison.

"Doctor!" she shouted. "Stop him!" 

She didn't know what she expected him to do, really. Hogun's pistol was ready, and she braced for Hogun to shoot him, but then he didn't need to deploy it as Strange created another of those circles. Instead of making a static shield, he _pushed_ it at Loki, and just as if he'd used his hands, Loki was shoved off his feet and fell to the deck. His cry of 'no!' filled her with grim satisfaction, even if she couldn't watch the cup fall into the sea. 

She gaped for a second, but then stirred back into motion. "Marines, go." 

They were already moving, shooting at anyone armed on the enemy ship and then leaping, sword and bayonet at the ready. They swarmed the deck of the _Jormungandr_ , putting the crew down on their knees. 

But Loki had gotten up again, throwing off the cape, to fight. He had a sword and defended the quarterdeck ably, stabbing three of the marines, before one managed to get up short ladder to the deck and fought properly. After that, they cornered him, swarming the quarterdeck until Fandral himself climbed up and leveled his sword. 

"Surrender. You are defeated." 

Sif could see there was no recognition as he snarled, "No." He lifted his sword, and charged recklessly. 

Heart in her throat, she knew he was trying to get Fandral to kill him, but there was something ... off, too. Loki had been an excellent fencer, but even with the advantage that Fandral was only trying to disarm him, Loki was slow to react. 

Fandral bound up their blades and yanked it out of his hand, catching the hilt in his left hand. "Now?"

Loki spread his hands as if in surrender, but she recognized the tension in his body that he hadn't actually given up. She thought he might rush Fandral, hoping to get stabbed, but instead he sprang to the right. He got one hand on the railing, intending to vault over it to the sea below, but Fandral dropped the swords and tackled him.

"No, you don't, your highness." 

They wrestled, and it was hard to see, Loki getting several blows in, but Fandral had him on his front and one arm hard up his back. He still struggled as if he didn't care that Fandral was about to dislocate his arm, and several others had to come help hold him down. But he was finally subdued and bound, and Fandral waved his kerchief to her that the ship was taken.

Sif took that as her cue, and climbed over to the other ship then, as the marines continued to slap restraints on the pirate crew. She ignored most of them, wondering where their families were, if any were volunteers or, like Loki, had been turned against their will. She climbed up the four stairs to the quarterdeck, where Loki awaited her, with the doctor following behind.

He was on both knees, hands bound behind his back, and his eyes burned with something dark and mad. There was no recognition at all, only rage.

"Oh beloved," she whispered. "What have they done?" 

He blinked and twitched, shaking his head as if to clear an annoying insect buzz away. But that told her he still remembered, somewhere inside, he was still there. 

She knelt before him and framed that thin face between her palms. He tried to shake her off, but she didn't let him, angling his face to meet her eyes. "Loki, it's Sif."

"My name is Shadow," he said. "And I do not know you." 

She ignored the sting of that declaration. He knew her, he had just forgotten. "You are Loki, prince of Asgard. You remember me. I know you do. You're free now." 

He scoffed a bitter laugh and shook the chains. "Free? Free me, and I will show you what I remember." 

"I think we cannot do that yet, beloved. I am sorry. But until you come back to your senses, you must be restrained for your own safety." 

He growled something wordless and lurched toward her as if to attack, but with his hands bound it was easy enough for Fandral grab him by the shoulders and hold him still. "You don't want to do that, my lord." 

"We need to take him back to my ship and put safely in the guest cabin. I fear he still intends to harm both us and himself." 

"Yes, Captain," Fandral acknowledged and pulled Loki to his feet. He struggled, but when two other marines came to help he was lifted clear off his feet and conveyed securely across to her ship. 

She gave the orders to Hogun to clean up the _Jormungandr_ and then when it was just her and Strange, he offered his hand to help her to her feet. She grabbed Loki's fallen sword, brushed off the knees of her cream-colored breeches, and stood with a sigh. 

"It is no more than we expected," he murmured in consolation.

"I know. But... I had hoped seeing me... he might remember," she said softly. "Can you help him?"

"I think so. Somewhat. I think there was a touch of some magic to him, and that at least I can undo. The rest though? He will have to find his way back himself, I fear." 

She nodded, hoping it would be swift while fearing it might never happen. "Well, let us be about it. The sooner we can return him home, the better. We need to find the Cube if he has one."

Beneath their feet in the captain's cabin, she pushed open the door. It smelled like Loki, weirdly enough - a seaborne version of the usual scents of ink and candlewax and parchment that seemed to find him, regardless of what he did. 

Bundling the charts and other documents again, she then set about finding the chest or box that held the other Cube. They knew Loki had one, so it had to be in here. It was not in the desk, not in the one hidden compartment she could find, and not in the treasure chest beneath the bunk. 

Hands on hips, she surveyed the room. "Okay, where did he put it? Damn him for being clever."

Strange shut his eyes to slits and turned slowly in a circle, ending up pointing toward the inner hull. "I sense power. That way." 

Cocking her head to the side she inspected the four shelves, his sextant, and a small statuette. She'd thought the art piece was of Aphrodite, or some similar ancient goddess, but if it was, it was not one she knew - the naked woman had held knives in her hands and was baring her teeth in a vicious snarl. One foot rested upon a dismembered body, and she wore a crown of antlers.

She shuddered and put it down hurriedly, before reconsidering. The base was big enough to hold something inside it. And once she'd thought that, it wasn't hard to hold it upside and down and find the bottom was a simple sliding panel. "Ah, clever. Here it is." 

Strange crowded up close to take a look. "May I see the figurine?" 

She relinquished it gratefully, after putting the door back across the cube. "Do you know who it depicts? Looks... evil."

Stephen nodded slowly. "A demon. Known to the Kamar-Taj, and one of those the Order should defend against."

"A demon?" she wanted to scoff at that, but couldn't manage. She'd never thought much of religion outside obligation, but now? "Demons are real?"

"Some of them. One of her names is Hela, goddess of Death." He wrapped the figurine in a black silk handkerchief and then folded his arms to look at the wrapped figure on the table. "It is ... disquieting to find such a thing here. Kaecelius has fallen even further than I thought to bring that. And if our enemy worships her that seems bad enough, but I fear the Black Order may be working toward freeing her to come to the Earth."

"Why would anyone do that?"

He shrugged. "Some believe it is better to rule Hell than serve Heaven. Others for spite, revenge, power. Why does anyone turn to evil?"

"What if she is the master of the Black Order already?" Sif asked. "If she is free?"

Strange shook his head. "I would know, and no such power is yet free. But now the poison makes sense- it is an offering to her. They are dead already, sworn in her service." 

She was about to say there had been no figurine in the _Excelsior_ , but that wasn't correct - there had been a statue. It had been different, not so obviously terrible, but there had been another figural sculpture of a woman with knives in both hands. She hadn't thought anything of it, or looked at it closely as it seemed like the sort of fake Roman decorative trash people kept on their shelves.

She had to look at everything. She took the leather-bound volumes from the shelf and paged through them. One was a treatise on astronomy, useful for sea-faring; two were boring collections of essays, but the last was a journal. In Loki's hand.

Except not. It was only half-full. Some pages had been torn out, and others full of crossed-out lines and blotches. None of it was the proper captain's log. 

She tucked all of it in the canvas rucksack to remove to her ship. "All right. I'm done. Anything else you think we should take?"

He carried the statuette himself, and she was just as glad. 

The sun was pleasantly warm on her face, and the breeze smelled fresh. She smiled at Hogun. "Guess what you get to do?" she teased.

He heaved a deep theatrical sigh. "I suppose I have to bring home another stolen vessel?" 

She patted his shoulder. "I think you can bear it, lieutenant. Let's get you situated and we'll be on our way as soon as we can. I'd hate to be set on out here while we're still damaged." 

The sun was slanting low in the sky by the time they were able to disengage and both ships start the tack to head westerly and home.

Once underway, it was time to check on Loki. He'd been imprisoned in the small brig, stripped down to shirtwaist and trousers, and was under guard with someone's eyes on him through the window in the door at all times to make sure he didn't strangle himself with the mattress ticking.

She hated thinking that way, but she knew she had to. If he really had become some sort of death goddess follower, he might use whatever he could. Looking through the window, in the dim lantern glow, she saw him lying on his back on the bunk. 

The guard let her in and locked the door behind her. Loki didn't move.

"It's Sif," she announced. "Your fiancée. Do you remember us, Loki?" 

"My name is Shadow." 

"No, it's not. You were born Loki, second son of King Odin and Queen Frigga of Asgard. And they await you at home." 

He wasn't listening to her, just staring up at the low ceiling of the deck above. 

"We missed you," she murmured. "All of us. Me, Thor, your parents, the whole kingdom-- we thought you were dead." 

"I was," he answered. "I was dead. I am dead. That is all any of us deserve. The dark eternal. For we are darkness and death, and nothing more." 

His voice in the dim light was hollow, even bleak, and his words unsettling as something she'd never imagine him saying. Her beloved, so interested in art and science, the things of _life_ , now captured by the opposite. 

But she would not let him do this without challenge. "Nothing more? What of children? Of laughter and painting and music? What of that foal that mistook you for its mother and everyone thought that was hilarious for two days?" she asked, trying to make him remember. 

"Remember the fireworks on the night we celebrated our engagement?" she asked. "I still wear your ring. You promised to come home to me, do you remember that? You promised me, Loki. and I will make you keep that promise. No villain will stop me from reclaiming what is mine."

But he didn't react, as if he hadn't heard her at all. 

A soft tap at the door drew her attention and she looked to the window, to see Strange's face. "Let him in," she ordered the guards outside. She turned back to Loki in time to see him grow still and his fingers flexed, tightening on the edge of the cot. 

He was afraid. She bit her lip, heart full at the realization. How many times in the past few years had someone coming in hurt him? She wanted to smooth his brow in comfort, but for now all she could dare was to tell him, "He's here to help you, Loki."

The door opened, letting the doctor slip inside. "We met before, but I should reintroduce myself, Your Highness. I am Doctor Stephen Strange. We met in the preparations for your engagement party. I set up the fireworks display. But that is not my primary skill or education." He paused as if to give Loki the chance to ask a question, but Loki said nothing. Strange continued, "I am a sorcerer. You know of my kind through one of your Black Order, who brought the Heavenly Cubes you use for communication."

Loki shuddered, but still said nothing. His quiet was unnerving and wrong for one who had been such a fluid speaker. But perhaps it was better than insisting his name was something else and he didn't recall her or his life before.

Stephen said, "There is some magical... residue around you, that I need to examine and see if I can remove."

"I don't want it," Loki snarled. "Go away. I am Shadow. That is all that matters."

"You have a fiancée and family who do not agree. And I will not let a traitor steal you from them," Strange returned. He started to lift his hands, but Loki was quicker, thrusting his hands out. 

"I said no."

Some wave of green fire emerged, and though it didn't seem to touch Strange, he stumbled back as if pushed. 

The doctor's eyes narrowed. "Ah, I feel your teacher in that," he said. "But Kaecilius was always too impatient to learn real skill." In an instant his hands shone with golden fire and with a push, sent it at Loki.

Slamming back against the wall, Loki was held there for a moment, eyes wide in the glow. He blinked, and a terror washed through his face moments before he let out a scream.

Stephen did not relent immediately, holding the golden fire on him so he stayed pinned to the hull. Sif parted her lips to intervene, unable to bear the absolute agony in that scream, but then Strange dropped his hands. Loki slumped to the bunk, passing out bonelessly as a hand flopped to the deck.

She threw herself beside him to check his breathing and heart, relieved to find they were both alright, even if he seemed soundly asleep. She turned on her knee and looked up at the doctor. "What happened?"

He rubbed at his chin, brow furrowed. "He fought it, somewhat, but I saw the old spell. It binds his will- not completely, but then it needs not do so when he was already damaged."

"Damaged?" she repeated and ran her fingers lightly across Loki's bare wrist and fingers hanging down. "What do you mean?"

"Torture," he answered bluntly. "As we suspected. I saw no details of his memories, but the shape of them was clear enough. So that will need to be helped the ordinary way, but the spell I can remove. With preparation and perhaps a quieter location with fewer to hear. He will resist again." He glanced at the door and she took his meaning, nodding grimly. 

"I had hoped to take him home more openly," she said, "But not like this. He will seek escape, at best, and death at worst before he remembers who he is."

"I agree. For now, his safety seems the most urgent consideration. After he is returned to his senses..." he trailed off, and grimaced. "Well, we shall see. Perhaps your comfort and his family will be enough."

She gave in to the urge to push back his hair from Loki's brow. "It will be enough," she promised softly. "We've come this far. I will not surrender the fight before it is fought." Leaning in, she kissed his cheek. "I'll be back later," she told him though he couldn't hear her, and stood to tend to her other duties. 


	4. The homecoming

In port, she let the _Jormungandr_ dock first, believing Hogun was wise enough to guess the problem. He had last seen the prince insensate and suicidal, so he would arrange the situation for her to bring the prince in safely. 

And indeed, as the ship slid into the berth at the end of the quay at the turn of the next tide in the early morning, she saw that onlookers had gone already so there were only royal marines waiting, and a closed carriage.

Six men carried the prince, restrained, gagged, and tied to a stretcher as if an invalid, down the dock to the waiting carriage. Sif and Strange went ahead to check all was well. The first thing she did was give her sealed message to one of the marines to send to the palace immediately. He took off at a run, and she turned her attention to oversee the setting of the stretcher into the carriage. He was too long to fit in any direction but diagonally across both seats, but that let them squeeze in either end and her box of treasure beneath him, for security.

Sif tapped the front to get them on their way to the palace, then set about freeing him from the stretcher and removing the cloth across his mouth so he could speak and sit up. 

He glowered at Strange, but made no move to try to use any powers he might have access to, then he stared at her suspiciously and held up his wrist cuffs, when she made no move to release them. 

"What is your name?" she asked. "I'll open your cuffs, if you tell me your name." 

The conflict was easy to see - the urge to tell her what she wanted to hear to get free battled with the need to say his false name. His lips parted and she could see him start to say 'Loki' before his jaw snapped shut and he turned his head. "Shadow. I am Shadow of the Black Order. Nothing more." 

"You are Loki Odinson, prince of Asgard," she reminded him. "That is your true name. Brother of Thor, and beloved of me. I know part of you remembers, Loki. Fight for that, fight for us," she urged him softly.

"There is nothing to remember!" he retorted sharply. "What you say is nothing. You are my enemy, and I will not be swayed by your lies!" 

In the other corner, Strange shook his head once for her to stop pushing. Every time she pushed him, he grew more agitated, and she supposed that until Strange lifted the spell he might not be _able_ to remember. So pushing him to do so was not helping. But it was so hard to sit inches away and have him not know her at all.

They slowed and she heard the guards call out. Lowering the window of the door she poked her head out. "Captain Sif, to see His Highness. He is expecting us."

"Aye, captain." The guards opened the gates to let the carriage in, and soon enough drew rein. The footman opened the door and his jaw dropped as he recognized who was inside. He stammered, "You- Your Highness! My God, you're alive!"

"The prince is unwell," Sif informed him. Which should be obvious, since his hair was unbound and he was wearing no coat over his loose black shirt and black breeches. But she still feared giving him ties and laces.

She addressed Loki. "Will you step out of your own accord, my lord, or will you force the men to drag you?" 

He shook his head, brow furrowed and eyes darting in confusion. Perhaps the footman's honest reaction had made him doubt his assumption that Sif and Strange were lying to him. "I - I will step out," he said. "I do not know what this trickery is, but it will not get what you want." 

A familiar voice bellowed, "Loki!" 

The footman stiffened, turning pale, as the crown prince bore down on them. At the very moment Loki was stepping out of the carriage to the box set there for the purpose, Thor arrived and grabbed him around the body, completely ignoring or unaware that his wrists were still cuffed together.

"You are home! At last, brother, at long last." He held Loki in that tight embrace, feet off the ground, until Sif was unsure he was going to let go.

"Your Grace, we should go indoors," she suggested. "This is not a fit place for discussion of all that has transpired. And your brother needs to be moved to a safe place." 

That got Thor to move. He set Loki down carefully to the ground, both hands on his shoulders and looked intently into his face. "We will bring you back to well, Brother. I promise." 

"I am not your brother," Loki spat at him hatefully. "I do not know you." 

Thor flinched at the venomous rejection but he roused to clap Loki on the shoulder. "Still sharp-tongued, I see. Come. You have been much missed." And he added deliberately, "Brother." 

Sif told the footman to have the bags and chest taken to her room, and they followed the princes inside. They entered the garden door, and went past the guards to the right-hand stairs toward the royal apartments. She bit her lip, hoping Thor had understood the message of where to keep him. 

"These are not your normal rooms, of course," Thor said to Loki, who was trailing him and staring straight ahead, as if refusing to look around would keep him from remembering this place he had seen near daily since his birth.

It was little changed, but she thought there must have been a decree to clear the halls, because after they passed the guards at the garden entrance, there was no one to see them.

But they passed the entry to Loki's suite, through a sitting room, into the corner room. It was small, nicely painted, and Sif had never seen it before. It had been emptied, and now housed only a cot with a bare mattress, a washstand, and two narrow widows. 

"It is bare, because Sif told me that she fears you will end yourself," Thor told him sadly. "And we cannot allow that, Loki. We thought you lost at sea, and now that you are back, we will not lose you again."

"This is to be my new cell?" Loki asked.

Thor winced. "Until you have returned to us."

"So this is to be mine forever?" Loki returned.

"It will not be that long," Strange promised. Loki started as if he had forgotten the doctor was also present and glanced at him, before taking a step away. Then as if to cover for his fearful motion, he kept walking to look out the window. 

"We played out there," Thor told him softly. "Two children running through the paths, the despair of our nurse who could never catch us." 

"I am not who you think I am," Loki said with a shake of his head.

"No, Brother, you are not who _you_ think you are. We are not tricking you, or mistaken; we know. It is you who was taken and forced to forget all that is good in this world," Thor told him. "But we will help you remember." 

"I can't be who you think I am," Loki protested. The chain between his two cuffs rattled as his hands or body shook with tremors, and his voice cracked as he repeated, "I can't." 

In a quick step, Thor was at his side and manhandled his face to kiss his brow. "Everything will be all right, Loki. We are here; you are safe from those who harmed you." 

It shouldn't have eased him. If he'd been telling the truth about not truly being Loki anymore, it wouldn't have, but his heart had not forgotten big brother Thor, who had comforted him when a little boy's imagination had run too wild. So his shoulders and jaw lost their tension, and his eyes for a moment shone wetly.

He blinked it away, but Sif saw and couldn't help a smile.

Thor drew away, pleased with the effect his presence had. "I have ordered food, so we might all eat a little something together." 

Of course Thor's idea of "a little something" turned out to be quite a lot for three people who'd grown used to simple ship board meals. Sif went to bring the rolling cart from the servant at the door herself and took the covers off the dishes to reveal various tea sandwiches, cheese, and other finger foods. The lower shelf held napkins and cups for a bottle of wine. 

When she offered a cup to Loki, he held out his hands to display the manacles in silent request. She lifted her brows. "You know the coin I want for that. Tell me your name." 

He groaned and spun away from her, stalking over to sit on the cot in a pout. 

Strange dragged in an extra chair from the room next door and gathered the other two closer to the cot so they might all sit around the food cart and take what they wished. Even Loki, after a hesitation of fearing it was either not allowed for him or was poisoned, plucked a biscuit from the platter Thor offered and sipped at the wine.

"Where are your parents?" she asked Thor, having expected Frigga to have run into the room already.

"They'll be here presently. They had to be recalled from Knightsbridge. Mother..." he hesitated and glanced at Loki. "She was so worried about what might happen, she didn't want to stay here. You know she's always more comfortable out there where she can ride and garden as much as she likes."

"You didn't go with them?" 

He shook his head. "I had a feeling you would be successful." 

Loki hadn't seemed to be listening, but he lifted his head, frowning, and he asked, "You never intended to go to Vanaheim? It was a ruse?"

"I took a page from my baby brother's book of pranks, and it worked, because here you are. It was an expensive ruse, by the way. So never think you are worth little, because you are definitely worth all the pounds to make this happen." 

Loki's shoulders slumped, the biscuit uneaten in one hand, expression vacant as if he couldn't believe any of this but had no way to argue it either.

In that moment of inattention, Strange stretched out a long arm and laid his hand on the back of Loki's head. He stiffened, eyes flaring with alarm, but then he collapsed to one side, unconscious.

"What? What did you do?" Thor demanded, fists clenching in upset. 

"I need to strip the spell off him as soon as possible," the doctor explained. "I certainly do not want to do it while the king watches. And his grace was not ready to defend himself."

"What spell?" Thor asked. "Is that what keeps him forgetful of the past?"

"It seems shallow," Strange said, "but it's there and it is binding his will. Removing it will be... difficult for him. So I put him asleep, hopefully that will be easier."

Thor nodded his understanding and relaxed. 

Sif put the fallen biscuit back on the tray and turned Loki onto his back to lie more comfortably, while Strange pushed the cart to the far side of the room.

Then he rummaged in the bag he'd carried and removed the Eye of Agamotto amulet to hang around his neck again. He touched it with his fingers, eyes closed while breathing deeply, then set three fingers on Loki's forehead. 

The Eye flashed with emerald fire. Loki's body went rigid, his head off the small pillow, hands digging into the thin mattress. His mouth opened but only panting breaths came out, while his eyelashes fluttered.

A soft golden light formed around Strange's hand and slowly crept around Loki's body, until he was surrounded by it. The glowing cocoon lifted a hands-span above the cot and his fingers stretched out, seeking something to touch.

Strange murmured words in a language she didn't know, but sounded commanding. 

She'd grown a little more used to magic now, but Thor was wide-eyed with confusion and amazement as they watched. Thor's hand grabbed hers, startling her at first, then she seized it gratefully. 

Loki cried out, a scream that choked off into a worse whimper of pain, and Thor's grip was painful on her hand, as it went on and on. "Should we...?" he murmured to her, sounding distressed.

She shook her head. They had to wait and see what the doctor would do. This would help, she hoped. It had to help.

Strange's voice grew louder in that other tongue, more demanding, and he clenched his jaw in determination, forcing his will upon something Sif couldn't see.

It unraveled abruptly. The golden light of the cocoon flared brilliantly and then it was gone. 

Loki's chest heaved for breath, as if he'd been underwater, and his expression was riven with distress. His eyes flicked around with a frantic desperation as if he had no idea where he was or what was happening.

"Loki!" she exclaimed and threw herself to the floor beside the cot. "I'm here. You're home."

And it was a miracle. His head turned, his eyes found her face, and he whispered as if he could not believe what he saw, "Sif?" 

But he recognized her. Finally, her own Loki was looking at her again.

"Loki?" she asked, and her voice was shaking. Tears were hot in her eyes and overflowed, and she tried to blink them away to stare at his face. 

"Is it you?" His voice was hoarse and disbelieving.

"It is," she nodded and touched his face with trembling fingers. "Are you back to me? Can you tell me your name?" 

"L-" he started, but his whole body jerked and he went ashen pale, his lower lip trembling. "I ... I can't." 

"Loki-" Thor said, crowding in next to Sif. "Loki, you can do it, brother." 

"Are you here, too?" Loki asked. "This is a dream. But you can't be here. I can't- I can't think of you. You must go away, before they come back." 

"No, Brother. I'm here. It's real," Thor's big hand laid over Loki's, finding the chains. "We need to take these off. They aren't helping." 

Strange handed her the key from his pocket and she opened the manacles, hoping to prove to Loki this was all real. When his hands were free, he lifted his arms to watch his fingers curl into fists and spread open again.

"Better?" Thor asked. "We worried you might hurt yourself." 

Loki did not reject the idea, she noticed worriedly. "Where am I?" he asked finally. 

"Home. In the corner room on the second floor. The old nursery is through there," Thor gestured vaguely behind him.

That didn't seem to help, since he still cast his eyes around the room as if he had no idea where he was. "Do you want to sit up?" she asked.

Before he'd formulated an answer, Thor grabbed his wrist to haul him upright. At the touch Loki flinched violently backward, his back slamming the wall as he recoiled. 

"Let go!" she ordered Thor, who already had, startled by the reaction.

Loki was shaking, gaze not seeing what was before him. His arms tucked around his chest, while he'd pulled up his knees. "Hey," she murmured, trying to get his attention without startling him. "It's alright. He didn't mean to startle you. Next time Thor will ask permission before he touches you." 

Loki shook his head miserably, not meeting her eyes. "I don't--- There's something wrong with me," he confessed.

"You've been in the grip of a madman and his magic cult for six years, beloved. It will take time," she told him gently. "May I?" she held her hand above his leg, waiting until he gave a jerky nod to touch him. She didn't move her hand after she laid her fingers on his knee, just trying to offer a gentle touch.

Strange had gone to the window and now reported, "I believe the king and queen have arrived."

Loki huddled in on himself more at the news, hair hanging around his face. He'd only just come back to himself, and he wasn't ready. 

"No, not yet," she said, imploring Thor. "Put them off."

"Mother will be frantic to see him," he protested.

"Please, Thor. Give him more time. Say he's asleep, or something." 

"Do you want to see them?" Thor asked his brother directly.

"I don't--" he looked at her, helplessly. "Do I? Yes. Maybe? I don't know...." His hands covered his face, the picture of misery.

"Your Grace," Strange said politely to Thor, "perhaps you and I should meet with them. That will give them some preparation of what has happened before they rush in here." 

"All right. We'll divert them for a little bit, make sure they know to be careful," Thor said with a nod. "And I'll be back soon, Loki," he promised. 

As soon as the door closed behind them, leaving just Sif and Loki in the small room. He drew a breath, pushing his hands through his hair and clasping the back of his neck.

"How are you feeling?" she asked.

He didn't look up, but pulled his hands apart to pick at his shirt hem and then rubbing one thumb across the back of his other hand, restless and anxious. "I don't know. It all seems like a dream. Nothing seems real," he admitted. He looked down at her hand still on his leg and very cautiously, as if he was petting a tiger, he set his hand on hers. "But I feel that. I feel you." 

"I feel you, too. Because you're here finally. You're home, and no one can take you from me again."

There were tears welling out and falling from her eyes, and he stared at her face in consternation. "Don't cry, Sif. Not for me." He reached toward her face, to wipe her cheek with a finger.

That touch shattered all the rest of her defenses. She lowered her head, clutching his legs in both hands, and let herself cry.

A somewhat awkward voice said, "I don't have a handkerchief. Sif, please..." 

That made her almost laugh through her tears. He was home.


	5. The night

Sif hadn't even wiped her eyes when the door opened and hurried footsteps entered. The queen's voice exclaimed, "Loki! Oh dear Lord, you're here, you're here, my son." 

Sif raised her face and moved back, as Frigga rushed in a flurry of skirts and the drift of sweet perfume. "My darling." She bent as if to embrace him, but stopped herself, reminded of what Thor had told her. "Are you--" she started with more difficulty, clutching her skirts to keep herself from grabbing his face, "are you feeling better? I know this must be so overwhelming, but I had to see you."

He stared at her too long, brows drawn together, lips quivering as his eyes took on a sheen. Frigga saw it. "Oh, my sweetling, everything will be all right now that you've come home." She reached out her hand and paused, "May I?" 

He nodded, but still twitched as her fingers touched his face. But she didn't draw back, her hand gentle on his face, pushing back his hair and cradling his cheek. He closed his eyes, breathing ragged, while she made soft hushing sounds of comfort. "You're here, Loki. I promise, all of this is real," she murmured.

After a moment he calmed himself and turned his head to kiss her palm. "I'm all right, Mama," he told her in a murmur. "Sorry to put you through such a trial."

"No," she said. "Not you. You have nothing to be sorry for. The villain who took you will be quite sorry though, when we are done with him." She pulled back her hand, trailing her fingers on his cheek as long as she could. Her reluctance that she could not embrace him as she wished was palpable.

"Indeed," Odin's deeper voice came from the door and he moved with slow inevitability to the bed as well. Thor followed him inside and shut the door, which told her the doctor had gone to his own house to rest.

"It is good to see you home, my son," Odin said.

"It is good to be home," Loki replied with careful formality, straightening his posture as if he might try to stand up. But Odin couldn't take the distance, reaching for Loki's near hand to take it between both of his. 

"We are blessed that you have returned," he said with more feeling. "The news that you were not lost after all was a miracle, my boy. How are you feeling?" 

All the eyes on him were making him uncomfortable, so Sif wasn't surprised when he lied and answered bravely, "I am well, sir. A bit tired is all." 

"Good, good. Then you will have time to rest." He pressed Loki's hand before letting it go and looking around with a disdainful curl of his lip. "Is there a reason to remain in this chamber and not return to your own? It has been kept just as it was. Your mother would allow no one to touch it, except to dust it."

"I always hoped you were still alive," Frigga confessed. "I feared otherwise, but as no one actually saw what happened to you, I kept my hope, even when others whispered the queen was mad and foolish. So your chambers await, if you wish to return there?"

"I-" he looked around the barren room and shook his head. "I would rather not move right now." He swallowed and added hesitantly, "if that is all right?"

Sif bit her lip and exchanged a pained glance with Thor. Before, her beloved had not been afraid of anything, least of all his parents.

Frigga heard it too, but kept her gentle smile. "Of course, sweetheart. You are exhausted. I see your eyes and you need rest. Thor, push that cart out of here and we will let Loki sleep." She bent down, slowly enough he could pull away if he wished, but he stayed still so she could kiss his forehead. "Sleep well, my darling. You are home and safe, and we will talk more tomorrow when you have rested."

"Find him some bedclothes and a blanket at least," Odin commanded, sounding grumpy but affectionate. "I will not have him catch cold in his own house."

"I will tend to it, my lord," Frigga confirmed and took his arm. "Come, we have greeted him, let us give him some space to rest. The doctor told us so, remember."

When they'd gone, Thor stepped forward and addressed Sif, "Speaking of, the doctor gives you both his apologies, but he thought it best to take his leave. He says he will study the objects you found together, but if we need anything from him, we should send right away."

Loki's lips pressed together. "I think he did enough." 

Sif glanced sharply at him. "He helped you. Of his own desire to find you and restore you at great risk."

"I didn't ask him to," Loki snarled back. "He put his fingers in my head. Tore everything loose. Made me _remember_." 

"Loki, he brought you back," Thor said. "I know--"

"You know _nothing_!" Loki bit out furiously. "Do _not_ tell me you understand. Because you don't. Both of you, so shiny and bright, and _untarnished_ , you will never understand."

Thor's face crumpled into sad lines. "We only want to help you, brother." 

"I don't want it. Leave me be." Arms wrapped around himself, knees drawn up, Loki huddled against the wall on the cot, looking miserable.

Sif waved her hand for Thor to go. Loki was exhausted and overwhelmed, and he seemed to have reached the end of his patience. Thor nodded. Aloud he said, "I will go then, and I hope you have good rest. All of us are here for you, Loki, if you need us. I'll return in the morning." 

Thor withdrew, and Sif was left alone with him again. She hesitated and asked, "Do you want me to go, too?"

He shook his head, then rubbed his eyes and combed through his hair. "No. I... I'm sorry. I should not have shouted."

"No need for apology," she reassured him. "It's been a difficult day. I just hope being home isn't making you feel worse." 

He thought about that then shook his head. "I am glad to see them all," he said, "But seeing them... the past seems ... bigger." He paused, struggling to put it into words. "I remember things that I forgot. And it pulled any last bit of strength from me." 

She smiled a bit. "Your parents and Thor are great, but they're..." she glanced at the door to make sure it was still shut, and then admitted to him, "a lot."

He snickered. It was the first sign of amusement she'd heard and it made her smile to hear it. "They are," he agreed.

But the moment of levity died away for silence, as he looked down at his hands. 

"What is it?" she prompted softly. 

He shook his head, refusing to answer at first, but then spoke. "I -- I know who I am. The real past. But it's still... not me. Not yet. I don't know if ever. There's so much, here, you don't know," he hung his head and pushed his hands against his forehead. 

"We're all changed, my love," she reminded him. "I'm a captain of a naval vessel now. I learned things I could not have imagined before losing you, but I did. I know my strength and my worth, I have respect from many for my skills. I am not the shy maiden you courted."

He tilted his face up and his lips lifted in a smile. "Your uniform is very..." he struggled over the right word and settled on, "attractive. And shapely on your legs." 

Her brows shot up at the admission that he'd looked at her legs. The flared coat was long enough to cover her hips, but trousers were unusual for women still. The admiralty had tried skirts, but they were too impractical at sea, so the few ladies had been allowed to keep the breeches or trousers with longer coats. 

It was the first time anyone had admitted looking, at least to her face. "Noticed, did you?"

"Hard not to, really. I did recognize you, or at least you seemed familiar. I don't know, it was confusing." 

"And now?" she asked. 

"I remember," he said. And his eyes darkened. "I remember everything. It's still in here, all of that... evil, Sif. All of it still lingers."

She was going to tell him it would go away, but thought that might be a lie. Maybe it never would. "All we can do is live with what life deals us. Yours is particularly dark, and I'm not trying to make fun of it, but I think, like most things, the worst will fade with time. And perhaps avenging yourself on those monsters will help as well." 

"I don't know if I can," he whispered. "My heart seizes at the thought of it. A cowardly reaction I know but--"

"Nonsense. It is not cowardly to fear those who tormented you," she interjected forcefully. "It is quite smart, in my opinion. But when you feel stronger then we will take the battle to them. And we will defeat them, Loki. We will destroy their evil, and keep it from preying on anyone else, ever again." 

He still seemed doubtful, and she reminded him, "I have taken both the _Excelsior_ and the _Jormungandr_ from the Black Order. They are strong, but now they can no longer hide. We will pull them out like the roaches they are and stomp them." 

That seemed to help more to give him heart, and he straightened, nodding. "I like that metaphor. They are roaches. And we need to exterminate them all." A yawn overtook him and she patted the thin mattress of the cot.

"All right, time to sleep. Let me go see if anyone's brought bedding and we'll make up the cot for you. Are you sure you wouldn't prefer a bed?"

"I've not slept on anything nicer than the ship bunk in... a long time, Sif. It's all right. At least I'm not chained up." 

She held up a finger in front of his nose. "That's only when you're not a danger to yourself or others. Remember that if anything tempts you." 

"Aye, Captain," he returned like a smartass and she rolled her eyes.

"Glad you're better." 

She found the servant outside with the bedding and took it from her, so she could make up Loki's bed herself while he washed his face and hands in the basin. 

Then he settled down and she brushed her hand against his. "I'll be just next door," she promised. "If you need me, call out." 

She would ordinarily not have been sleeping on a cot on the second floor in the room next to Loki's. She had a bedroom of her own on the third floor, above the queen's sitting room, but she felt uneasy being too far from him. 

So she'd ordered, with the queen's blessing, a cot in the old nursery and decided to sleep there. The servants were clearly puzzled by all this, but did as bid, just glad the prince was home, even if the situation was odd. It was Loki's first day home after years of captivity and she would not let him suffer alone, no matter what anyone might say.

She settled, alert for any sound from Loki's room, and fell into a fitful sleep. 

The quiet didn't last long, as a cry woke her with a start. She reached for her sword on the shelf above her captain's bunk, only to bolt awake on the realization where she was. 

Stumbling in the dark, lit only by the moonlight coming in the narrow window, she fumbled her way to the connecting door and rushed into Loki's room. The far door opened as well, one of the house pages coming in, and she sent him out with a wave.

Loki was wrapped up in the bedclothes, fighting them, muttering something in his nightmare. She turned up the lamp and saw his eyes frantically darting behind his lids. "Loki--" she tried to call his name, but there was no response. He didn't seem to hear, too deep in his dreaming. 

She grabbed a shoulder and shook gently. 

His hand flew up to counter-attack, hitting her arm, as he opened his eyes on a gasp. For a moment he was still blinded by terror, memories flitting across his face, before he saw her there. "Sif?" he questioned, unsure it was her. 

"I'm here. You had a nightmare," she murmured. "You're in the palace in Asgard," she added in case he wasn't sure of that in the dimness. 

He hid his face in the pillow, shaking, while his hands gathered to fists.

"It's too dark, it's too dark, I remember," he whispered, shaking.

She bit her lip. Of course. The lamp. She turned up the oil lamp and hurried to open the shutter so the moonlight was bright silver through the room. "There. Is that better?" 

Cautiously, he uncurled and opened his eyes. "You're safe now, my love," she reassured him, gently caressing his tangled hair. "Only a bad dream." 

He shook his head. "Memory. It was memory." 

"Can you tell me about it?" she asked.

He shook his head again, unwilling or unable to speak of it yet. 

"All right," she comforted, not about to force it out of him. "Just close your eyes. I'll stay with you." 

"I'm all right," he insisted. "You can return to your own bed. Please." It was clearly a prideful request, but she had no intention of indulging it when he so clearly needed someone with him.

"I will, when you're asleep." She straightened the sheet and pulled it up over him. 

"This is not... proper," he started, and she snorted, very inelegantly.

"You are a pirate and I am a sailor, my love, we can be improper all we like." She had the king and queen's permission to be here, and what did Sif care about gossip when Loki was only a day back from being torn from her for so long?

The light jest seemed to ease him and he nodded some acceptance and slowly settled, breathing coming more easily. She thought he might be falling asleep, but his voice seemed awake. "Sif, I have done terrible things." 

"You did not do them," she insisted. "You were made into another and he did them."

He shook his head. "It was me. I remember all of it. I was there. I wanted to do it."

She wasn't sure what to answer for that to make it better. Maybe there was nothing that could. "We have all done things we regret, my love. And things you did under thrall were forgivable." 

He was silent, and she patted his hand. "Rest now. Perhaps everything will seem brighter in the morning." 

Neither of them spoke again, but Sif didn't leave until she could hear his breathing deepen and grow more regular back into sleep. She left the lamp burning, so it wouldn't be fully dark in the room, and on stocking-clad feet, she tiptoed out of the room to seek her own bed. 

If he had another nightmare, she did not hear it in her own rest, and was awakened by the sunlight streaming in around the edges of the curtains. 

She rang for water to wash, and dispatched someone to fetch an outfit from her room. The maid sensed her mood and was quiet as she helped Sif into the rose-colored gown and do her hair. She wanted to look more like the Sif Loki remembered, not the sea captain in naval blue and white. The Sif who looked back at the glass the maid held was definitely more that Sif. 

She knocked on the door between them when she was ready and waited for the call to enter. To her surprise, Loki was up already as well. He was wearing his own clothes again, not the dark underthings of before, and she sensed Frigga's hand in the selection of green and white, instead of any black. 

She noticed, as he turned that his waistcoat was too loose. The brocade was thick enough to hide it for the most part, but he had slimmed down so much he no longer filled it out as well as he had. Had he barely eaten the entire time he was gone, even after he had been elevated to captain of the enemy ship? Frigga was going to be distressed by how much everything would need to be re-tailored.

She kept none of the concern on her face as she curtsied. "Good morning, my lord." 

He stared at her, utterly struck dumb in a very flattering fashion, as his eyes roamed her bodice and bare shoulders before finding their way to her face. He nearly managed to not stumble over the greeting, "Good morning, my lady. Did you sleep well?"

"I did. And you, I hope?"

His face gave nothing away as he answered. "I did. Have you had breakfast? Thor's already been here this morning and he was going to have tea brought." He hesitated and added, "If you would like to share it here." 

Was it the servant straightening the cot's bedcovers, making him more formal, or something else? 

She longed to retrieve the intimacy of yesterday, but already normalcy was beginning to assert itself. It was a mask and she didn't like it. It left too much unsaid, and right now, the unsaid was very important. 

But still, if distance was a refuge for him, who was she to insist otherwise? Trying to shift everything in a day had been difficult and draining for her, and it had to be more so for him. 

A knock on the outer door announced another arrival and the servant went to answer, allowing Thor to pass through and pushing the tea cart back in the room. 

Frigga surprisingly, followed it in. "Good morning, my son, and to you Sif." She was an in a sunny mood, still joyful Loki had returned, kissing his cheek while he held himself a statue. "You look much improved, darling. I think tonight you would do well in your own rooms again. Surely those would be more comfortable for you."

"I don't need anything that fancy, Mother." 

"Fancy? Your bedchamber may as well be a farmer's my dear. There is nothing fancy about it." 

While it was true that Loki's rooms, last she had seen, were not overly ornate, they were certainly not plain. His sitting room had been stuffed full of his clockwork and other artifices of his studies, plus half the palace library strewn on every available surface. She had teased him when they were married she would allow only two books in the bedchamber, lest he forget she existed. 

But when her jesting made no indent into amusement on his face, Frigga softened. "I know it will take time, sweetling," she murmured. "You are back in body, but not entirely up here." She tapped her head with a long nail. "That will come."

"I," he started but stopped, gave a little smile, and retreated both physically and verbally from the conversation, taking a step back and asking, "Will you join us for tea?" 

All four of them had tea around the corner table pulled into the middle of the room and chairs hastily brought in from adjoining rooms. Frigga had drawn breath after a disapproving expression, to suggest they move elsewhere, but after a glance at Loki, seated herself on the straight-backed chair and poured the tea. Sif knew Frigga had noticed the fit of his clothes when she put two extra biscuits on his plate and encouraged him to eat them.

"So what do you want to do for your first day back, brother?" Thor asked. "Shall we go for a ride?" 

"Oh goodness, no," he refused. "I have been on a ship far more than a horse. And I think, for today at least, returning to my own rooms is all I want to do." 

"Go out in the garden at least?" Thor asked. "It's a lovely day, you should take advantage."

"Perhaps this afternoon," he said, and everyone at the table knew he had no intention of going outside that day. 

Sif's eyes met Frigga's and she knew they were of similar mind that they would have to watch over him. It was understandable for him to want to be invalided a few days after such an experience, but they would have to coax him out and about, as well, to remember how to be part of this world again. 


	6. The truth

After tea, they all made a short parade to Loki's rooms on the opposite side of the grand stair, looking eastward toward the park. Thor opened one half of the tall door to pass through to the sitting room, where Sif had come in company with him more after Loki's disappearance than she had seen with Loki, since they had been required to socialize with others in attendance.

The sitting room, which doubled as his study, held paintings on the wall between the tall shelves, one large painting of a schooner riding a stormy sea sitting unframed on an easel, and various devices and books on the shelves. 

Loki's face held nothing as he looked at his old room, but then his attention was captured by the painting on the easel and a frown gathered his brows as he looked at it.

"Loki?" Sif murmured, in concern. "Is all well?"

"It's a Smithson, I know that," he murmured, "I recognize the style. I remember meeting him to discuss a new acquisition. But I... I have no memory of that work. Where did it come from?"

Frigga moved to his side after a worried look exchanged with Thor. "Mister Smithson delivered it as an engagement present the day of the party." 

"Oh." He plainly did not remember it, even with the reminder. "It's very ... dramatic," he said. "Did I like it?" 

"You were too busy making eyes at Sif," Thor teased, trying to lighten Loki's mood, but he paid no attention.

"You did," Frigga answered more seriously. "But if you wish it removed, we can do that, darling. It would fit nicely in the long gallery." 

"Yes, I think that would be better." 

Thor rang for the footman to gather some help and carry the painting and its display easel elsewhere.

Loki wandered the rest of the room idly, touching things seemingly at random, picking up one mechanism to examine it as if he'd forgotten what it did. Sif watched, biting a lip in worry, but said nothing, not wanting to interrupt as he re-familiarized himself with his things. "Anything else you want to change?" Thor asked him. 

Loki shook his head and passed through the door on the opposite wall and into his bedchamber. Thor followed while Sif hung back with Frigga.

Sif could see the end of the bed through the door and moved near to Frigga to murmur, "Lamps to chase away the night." 

"Yes, of course. I will speak to Mister Selvig," Frigga said and addressed Loki who was circling back out of the bedchamber with a glazed look in his eyes that suggested it was all overwhelming him again. "I think we should leave you to be used to it again." 

Sif expected Thor to be the one Loki wanted to stay with him-- Thor was hovering over him worriedly-- but she was at the door when Loki called hesitantly, "Sif? Could you, would you stay for a little while?"

"Of course I would," she said, and Frigga nodded approval. 

"Come, Thor. Let your brother return slowly," she said. "We'll be just down the hall, darling, and I'll come check on you in a little while." 

He swallowed and nodded, and Frigga ushered Thor out with her. 

As soon as the door closed behind them, Loki fell into the wingchair to rub his hands across his face. "It's all so... grand," he murmured. "I haven't... I don't even recall what silk feels like." He touched the silk damask of the cushion. "It doesn't feel real. Nothing does."

"You've been somewhere else for quite a while," she murmured. "Give yourself some time to adjust. Even aside from the worst parts, it always takes me some days to get my land legs, after I've been aboard ship." 

He plucked a book off the table next to him and opened to the title page, shutting the book again and holding it in both hands. "Tell me about that," he requested. "You joined the _navy?_ I can scarcely imagine what prompted that decision."

"No? It was you. Or at least your absence that prompted it. I could think of no better way to avenge your loss than to take a ship of my own against pirates." 

"Oh." He looked down at the book in his hands, mulling that over. "I didn't think it would have anything to do with me." 

"Why not? Did you think I would just... put it aside? Forget you?" She saw at once that was the wrong thing to say, as his hands tightened and his throat worked with something he couldn't say. 

"Are you blaming yourself for not recognizing me?" she asked gently, figuring that was the problem.

He shook his head. "But I did forget. I had to- to put you away. It just hurt to remember too much," he whispered. "All this brightness." He gestured with one hand around the room.

"You faced trials I cannot even imagine," she murmured in consolation, "but you survived them. You're here now. The sun still shines, Loki. Come," she said abruptly, coming to her feet. "Let's go outside and you can see for yourself." He shook his head in refusal. "Come on," she coaxed, "just a little while. We can walk the garden, round the fountain and back." 

"Sif...." 

She stood before him and held out both hands in invitation. "Please?" 

"I cannot refuse such a gentle plea," he answered with a sigh. "Only because it's you." 

He was still reluctant but only while they found their way outside. Various servants saw him and reacted appropriately, but he ignored them all, once visibly detouring to the other side of a hall. She followed, grimacing apologies for his behavior, but saw only furrowed brows of concern in his wake since he still looked unwell with his hair hanging on his shoulders, his clothes ill-fitting, and feet shoved hastily into slippers.

But once they were outside, the fresh air and sunlight did seem to make him feel a little better. The tightness in his shoulders loosened and he inhaled a deeper breath, squinting out toward the line of trees by the pond. Then he offered his arm. "Shall we?"

Gratefully she curled a hand above his elbow, and they started down the shallow steps to the garden paths. He didn't speak as they walked, so she kept her silence as well, content to walk with him again, as they had years ago. 

At the folly, a fake ruin built into the fish pond by King Bor, he sat down on a fallen column in the shade and she joined him, letting the water sounds fill the air. 

"It does seem brighter," he admitted. "I'm glad you made me walk out here." He leaned against the stone wall behind him, sighing and letting his eyes close.

"You seem tired," she murmured. "Should we go in?"

"Not just yet. The dark doesn't claw at my throat like it does inside. "

She clasped his hand in hers, glad when his fingers tightened on hers in return. 

"Father is going to want information," he said after a long restful quiet.

"You know where we need to go, don't you?" she asked, and he nodded once. 

"I do. I know his name. His family lands. His madness. But telling all of that," he hesitated and swallowed hard before admitting more softly, "fills me with dread. He told me, he promised," his hand started to tremble in hers and she held it more firmly, "To punish any betrayal. I can't - I can't go back, Sif. I won't."

"Never," she reassured him. "We will destroy him. He is our enemy and you need fear him no more. And when he's gone, never again," she promised. 

"That feels so... weak," he said with a bitter laugh. "That i should need such reassurance." 

She lifted his hand to her lips. "I am here to give it without judgment. Only myself." 

He swallowed hard. "How do I deserve you?"

"By being yourself, that's all I ever wanted," she reminded him. "You and me, honest and true to each other and ourselves." 

He leaned into her, putting his head on her shoulder briefly, before kissing the bare skin there very daringly, and straightening again to a respectful distance. "I will do my best," he promised. "If you forgive me for being somewhat... temperamental now." 

"Of course. If you can do the same with me." 

"You are never temperamental. Only beautifully righteously angry. I should have someone paint a new portrait of you," he said abruptly. "The woman you've become is more beautiful than the girl I knew." 

She drew herself up, pleased by the compliment. "Well, for that bit of flattery, I have to wonder what you want of me," she teased. 

He leaned closer, tantalizing closer and closer, and whispered, "Everything," before his mouth found hers.

She flung her arms around his neck to kiss him as thoroughly as she could manage. 

It was delightful, spending those minutes uninterrupted. 

They only stopped because Thor found them and cleared his throat. They pulled apart like children caught in the pastries, and he laughed at them, shaking his head. "I am bid to bring you in," he said, not without regret. "Father wishes to speak to us over family dinner."

Loki's expression soured. "Can it not be over tea? Dinner will be insufferable." 

"Sorry, brother. But no. This is a small celebration fo your return. There is a grander one being planned, you should be aware." 

"Fantastic." His expression flickered with an urge to run away, but she grabbed his hand. 

"I'm sure it will be fine. I have a sword now, I will keep the too eager away," she promised. 

That made him smile. "I know you will." 

The three returned indoors and to change, because even a family dinner was not to be as informal as last night's meal had been, not in the king's household.

And indeed it was not, though at least they gathered at one end of the table rather than spread all along its length. 

Loki had tied back his hair and put on a blue coat with a nice lace cravat, and Sif teased him about borrowing her captain's uniform. Thor was wearing red which made him look even broader than usual. Sif's plum gown was a few years out of fashion but she didn't think Loki would care. His mother would outshine everyone anyway. 

Servants carried in the first course and the bread, and the conversation remained light by unspoken decree of the queen, who held court in this domain with her gossip about people Loki had known. He did not appear overly interested, but stayed attentive for her sake and because these were people he was going to be seeing again in the not too distant future. He toyed with more of his food than he ate, but Frigga pretended she didn't notice and everyone followed her lead.

But once the dessert course had been served, the king dismissed the servants from the room and Loki turned pale, knowing what was coming. 

Odin saw and grimaced in some apology, but forged onward. "I hate to ask you of this, my son, so soon, but preparations are already underway. Where is it we are attacking? Who?" 

Loki swallowed hard. He couldn't find his voice, lips parting but nothing emerging. His hands clasped together, fingers rubbing restlessly with anxiety, until Sif laid her hand over his. That let him draw an easier breath and spoke. "You know him, Father," Loki said. He inhaled another deep breath, trying to calm himself, and said all at once, "Thanos Malekith, Duke of Titan, is the master of the Black Order." 

Frigga dropped her fork, sending it clattering from plate to tablecloth. Loki startled at the noise, jerking back in his chair and sloshing a bit of wine onto his hand from the goblet he held. Sif handed him her napkin, trying to understand this new truth. 

The Duke of Titan. It had been some years since he had come to court so far south from his lands, which were one of the major holdings of the old realm of Jotunheim. Though Sif had been too young to recall the visit well, the memory of him did not strike her as odd or evil in any way. 

"No," Odin breathed in dismay. "He is a traitor?" 

As if the secret being revealed had been the worst of it, Loki added more firmly, "He is."

"But why?" Frigga asked. "He holds no special animosity toward us, that I know of. General resentment of the conquest years ago, of course, but nothing specific. Nor do his actions seem geared toward fighting for independence."

Loki shook his head. "It's not about that. He is utterly mad. Oh, coherent enough, but deranged in reasoning. He truly believes he shall rule everything once he plunges the world into darkness. And I think his minion, that sorcerer, has been poisoning his mind with these thoughts and his cult religion. It is," he swallowed and grabbed for the wine to enable himself to speak again, "a great evil. Death above all to usher in the darkness. To _be_ the darkness, so one cares nothing for life." His hand was trembling so hard, he nearly overturned his goblet while setting it down and she reached across to take his hand again. His fingers were like ice, and he seized her like a lifeline in a stormy sea.

His parents observed this and Frigga nodded approval to Sif for calming him down.

Odin rubbed his beard thoughtfully. "If it is not a general uprising in the north, it should be a simpler action, at least."

"But how did no one see the _Excelsior_ or the _Jormungandr_ at Titan?" Thor asked in confusion, echoing her own thoughts. "Or the other ships he's taken? Where are they?" 

"He berths the ships in a cove among the islands off the coast, and uses smaller ships to go into port. And..." he toyed with his cup, looking into its depths, "not all the ships were taken. Some sank with all hands." And she knew by his face he'd seen at least one of those. Knowing what she knew of the Order now, it wouldn't be a surprise if the crews all been put to the sword first. "The _Statesman_ was set on fire. They all perished."

"Grim news," Odin said, and carefully did not ask how Loki knew. "You were at Titan Castle?" 

The answer took a moment as some dark memory made his eyes go blank until she squeezed his hand. "I was there, yes. Though I was also on his ship _Sanctuary_. Which I think was also stolen, but I do not know its name before. Not ours, I don't think. The ships are re-outfitted in Tortuga."

"How many ships does he have?" Odin asked.

"At least three others: _Sanctuary_ , is his own ship. _The Draugr_ , Midnight is the captain. The _Dark Aster_ and Corvus is its captain."

"Which one is the sorcerer?" Sif asked. She didn't mean for it to be a difficult question, but he shoved back so hard he nearly tipped over his chair, if not for Thor whipping his hand out and catching the carved point of the back. Thor pushed it back to all four legs on the floor, and Loki stared blankly at his dinner plate. "I'm sorry," she said and tried to take his hand again. "I shouldn't have asked."

"No," he murmured and shook himself. "It's alright. I know- I knew I was going to have to talk about it. It's just...." he trailed off and had to inhale a ragged breath. "Ebony. He had powers. Like the doctor's but he did other things with them. He taught me a little of them. Later. When they were convinced I was... loyal." 

Thor had long enough reach to grab the brandy bottle off the sideboard and pour a measure into Loki's wine goblet. "Here. You need something stronger, I think." Loki curled both hands around the globe of the cup to keep it steady as he sipped. 

When he seemed calmer and ready to continue, Thor asked, "Why would Thanos even listen to him? Was he that persuasive?"

Loki shuddered. "Not really, no. But it didn't matter. His power, it crept into the mind... everyone listened." 

The king nodded slowly, thinking, "Then we must take them both out. The sorcerer so he cannot spread his poison elsewhere, and Thanos as a traitor. What do you think they will do now that we have both you and Thor, and the ship back?"

"I don't know," Loki answered. "Nothing good. They were furious when Obsidian was killed and his ship lost to us. To them." 

"Winter storms are coming," Thor said, grabbing the last piece of bread. "They will have to act quickly. As will we." 

"We shall," Odin promised. "I have waited six years to avenge my son, I will not wait another. The orders have already gone out to Admiral Freyr to raise the fleet and now we know where it will point. Their secrecy protected them, but they cannot stop what's coming now." 

"Titan castle is old and strong. Its walls thick." 

"Not against twenty pound cannon, my son," Odin said. "I will tear its walls down to rubble if he does not give himself up. And," he added with a vindictive smile, "I too have a sorcerer." 

"That is enough war talk for now," Frigga intervened with a look of concern at Loki's face. He did not seem soothed by the talk of vengeance, growing more palely ill-looking and refusing to eat any more. 

He excused himself soon after with some urgency, and Sif followed quickly behind, just in time to watch him sick up in the privy. "Oh, darling." 

He jerked. "I-- I am sorry, you should not have followed me," he said, wearily, grabbing the handkerchief from his sleeve to wipe his mouth and avoid her eyes as he pushed himself upright.

He didn't get any further than the corridor outside before sinking down the wall to the floor. "I am trying to keep it together," he murmured, closing his eyes. "But all I remember is that place." 

She knelt beside him and reached for his hands to interlace her fingers with him. "It's all right, love. I'm here." 

"I don't know if I can do this," he admitted lowly. 

"Do what?" she asked, rubbing her thumb across his fingers. "Talk about it?"

He shook his head, but then said, "That, too. But I was thinking of going with the fleet to battle him. I have to go, I want to go, I want to destroy him, but at the same time... I don't know if I can." 

"Then I will go in your place," she offered. 

"No," his grip tightened on her hand. "Not alone."

"I won't be alone. I will have all the ships of the line with me, and I will have the doctor on my ship and we will take that villain and his henchman out like the garbage they are." 

"I will not send you in what should be my place." 

"Well, I'm going regardless."

He looked somewhat stymied by that answer, as if he had expected her to agree not to go, too. She brushed her free hand against his cheek. "You are not sending me, I am going. Because that is the thing I have wanted most since they took you. I have you back, but I want our vengeance, too. I want revenge for those years we cannot get back. A wedding I did not have. A husband and child I was denied. And for you, beloved. For peace you do not have. A life without torment you should have had and they took. For all those things, they need to pay, both Thanos and his henchmen. And so no one ever suffers as we did. Not again."

He leaned into her, heads touching. "I want to go with you. Together." 

"If you are ready when we depart, then we go together. If not, then I will carry your flag and they will know you are with me in my heart, as you have been from that day you saw a girl drag a dirty leaf across your perfect carpet." 

That seems to ease him finally, and he breathed without the shame in his face for what he saw as his weakness. 

She meant it, too. She would go with the _Valkyrie_ , whether he was with her or not, but at least he would still be present in some way, even if he wasn't yet recovered enough to battle. 


	7. The battle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finale will post on Sunday, so check back! Enjoy!

* * *

The weeks of preparation saw a gradual return to more normalcy. Sif slept in her own room, as did Loki. Thor's rooms were across the hall from Loki, so he kept an eye on his brother, along with Peter, one of the young squires whose job was to keep the suite's lamps lit overnight and be company if Loki woke from a nightmare. It still worried Sif how tired he was, withdrawing to sleep in the afternoon, but he was eating better. He kept to plainer fare, but at least no longer picked at food as if it was a strange creature. But as his rest improved, the light came back to his eyes and he actually laughed when a goose decided Thor was walking too close and kept running at him for half the path back to the folly, nipping at him while he tried to shoo it away. 

Though he refused to speak of the worst of his memories to her, she thought he had been most honest with her, until one afternoon she had returned from a visit to the port to find him with the queen. Her hand lightly caressed his hair where his head lay in her lap, and his ragged voice was telling her something SIf caught only as 'it was so dark'. 

"It's all right, little one, let it out," Frigga murmured. With her free hand she put a finger to her lips, seeing Sif there, and Sif nodded and pulled the door shut behind her again silently. 

She felt a little hurt that he was confiding in his mother, then realized how foolish that was. Perhaps he feared rejection from Sif, or at least was more comfortable revealing details to Frigga that he didn't want Sif to know about his captivity. Or perhaps Frigga had simply been the one present when the wall cracked. Either way it was not something she could be upset about. None of this was his fault and they were all bumbling their way through it as best they could. 

But he seemed better after that, and Sif was reminded of what the priests said about the value of confession. Perhaps putting words to it had been what he needed all along.

Frigga never told her all that he'd revealed to her, but she said enough to Sif. "They kept him in a hole in the ground. That's why you must never allow the room to be fully dark when he sleeps." 

Sif had shut her eyes, pained by this. It was nothing she hadn't suspected, but hearing it, hurt her in her heart. To think of him, starving and desperate, with no light, no warmth, for too long, trying to break him. And eventually succeeding somehow, if not just with that, but other things that he was still keeping inside. They were monsters.

It firmed her resolution that they deserved no mercy for what they'd done.

But the weeks passed, and soon the time for departure approached. She and Loki were sitting in the window seat of the Queen's parlor, overlooking the herb garden, lazing in the sun like cats. 

"In two days, I leave with the _Valkyrie_. And you? Are you joining me on the ship?" 

"Will I be in the way?" he asked.

"Almost certainly," she agreed, with a smile, folding her hand around his. "But you deserve to be there, too. And I would rather have you and the doctor on my ship than somewhere else." 

"All right. I don't want to be left behind." 

She smiled and kissed him in the window for a time. 

But it turned out the king had made a decision of his own already. "Absolutely not," he stated. "You will stay here. I would not put you within a hundred leagues of that hellish place."

"But, Father--"

"No. You are to stay here, continue to improve, while we take out the trash. You will serve as regent in my and Thor's absence from the capital," Odin told him. Loki started, shocked by that.

"Me? But--"

"I expect you will make no dramatic changes while I am gone, but there is no sense in leaving the Crown without supervision for weeks, either. And Thor needs to learn to command a battle at sea, something you have already learned." 

Loki's lips parted to object again, but he swallowed it, bowing his head. "Of course, sir. I will endeavor to do my best at this charge." 

"You will have your mother to help, of course," Odin continued. "And if you get bored, you may take a look at the finances. I think sometimes the Chancellor does not know how to do sums."

That got Loki to smile. "I will, Father." 

He was disappointed not to go with the fleet, but at least the king had given him something important to do in exchange. It was a nice bribe to get him to go along with it, which he knew, but later confessed to her, he would do it.

"You sure you don't want to sneak aboard the _Valkyrie_ in disguise?" she asked, teasing.

He shook his head, smiling ruefully. "I would. But perhaps he's wise to forbid me. I don't know what my reaction might be, seeing it again." 

"I shall destroy it, so you need never look on it again," she promised. 

"My fair Sif, so bloodthirsty." 

"Only for you, beloved. But yes."

His arms came around her in sudden hard embrace. "I know I vanished and left you bereft, so it would only be just if you did it in return, but--"

"I will come back to you, I swear," Sif said. "You came back to me. I will come back to you, no matter what." 

"I will wait, as long as it takes, I promise."

"And we will be married. I'm tired of waiting," she said and he agreed with a grin. 

"Oh yes. I would marry you today, if we could."

"Well, we _could_ , but I think your father would be put out with you." For a moment he looked tempted, as was she, but she shook her head taking the temptation away. "No, let us hold that for when we're free." 

"I like the sound of that," he murmured, leaning in to claim her lips with his own. One advantage to his return was how much less either of them worried about 'propriety' now that they knew how fragile life was. There was no time to waste on such frivolities.

* * *

He saw the fleet off at the port, waving from amidst a small crowd of guards to keep back the crowd of onlookers to see the King, Crown Prince, and Admiral Freyr leave. Loki was wearing an emerald satin coat, and the golden circlet resting on his raven hair was visible in the sunlight even after the _Valkyrie_ was out to sea. 

The line spread out as each ship made the turn west, and the wind was favorable. 

Strange had chosen her ship to travel on, when the king sailed with Admiral Freyr on his much bigger warship _Sleipnir_ , and Thor had picked the refurbished _Jormungandr_ , with Captain Volstagg, who was a friend of his. 

The red and gold flag of Asgard waved from the top mast, and just below it, hung Loki's personal standard of the Asgard colors quartered with a pair of ravens on green in opposite corners. She looked up at it and smiled. He was with her in this way, while staying safe at home.

The doctor wore his red cloak and the amulet openly, as he moved to join her at the railing. "Are you prepared to face your traitor?" she asked. "We have to face ours, but so do you?"

He nodded. "Kaecilius. Or Ebony, whatever he is calling himself, needs to be stopped. I knew he was part of this, and I have learned much in the last weeks." He touched the amulet at his chest. "I should be able to protect the fleet from his attacks, and hopefully be able to launch my own. But Sif, you will have to trust me - remember, I have some knowledge of the flow of time through this amulet, if I tell you to do or not to do something, I beg you heed it." 

"I shall," she promised, and smiled. "I like that idea, actually. If you can see the mistakes, we should make far fewer, right?" 

"That is my plan. It is an advantage he will not have."

On the voyage north toward Titanlands, she wished she and Loki had one of those communication cubes to speak to each other. Perhaps when Thanos was gone, that was the use they could have. 

She wrote letters she put into her desk, since she lacked a way to send them. The king had ravens to send as messengers, who knew to fly back to the capital when there was some news to carry to Loki, but they were not for love letters.

They hoped the fleet was outrunning any word to Thanos to prepare, but of course, could not be sure of that. If he had learned Loki was rescued, no doubt he would presume Loki would speak his name and the king would come after him. 

The ships passed within sight of two other merchant ships, and at the king's orders they were stopped and inspected before being released, in case they were re-flagged ships of the traitor. But otherwise they passed only small local fishing boats, unbothered as they passed through the Emerald Sea. 

The wind grew stiffer as the weather changed, heralding a storm, and she smelled rain even if none fell on them. She and Strange and Hogun discussed what to do if there was a storm when they approached the river. It was late autumn and the rains were frequent this far north. 

Finally her lookout reported the lighthouse at Carmangie, so they were on target for the bay of Titan and the multiple islands that had once been the mouth of the great river. 

The _Valkyrie_ was designated the second ship to enter the bay, after the Admiral's warship, so Strange could prepare as they formed the line against any opposition. 

But as they sailed inside, there was no one. Not a masted ship in sight. "Where are they?" 

She called up to the lookout to seek around them, wondering if they were going to try to ambush them from behind the bigger of the islands, but so far, nothing from there either. 

"There they are!" came the cry, and she whirled to see a tall ship appear in the mouth of the bay. 

"One? Surely not," she murmured to Hogun. 

"Nope, there are more."

There were. Three more appeared over the next few minutes from both fore and aft. The enemy ships thought they were surrounding the royal fleet, backing them into the bay. But she smiled, because this was a strategy that worked for pirates -- take a few ships and attack a single ship on the sea like wolves on a stag. But every single ship of the line outgunned the pirate ships, and altogether, as long as they held the line, it would be over quickly. The royal fleet didn't even have to move, since they were already in position. 

The enemy vessels would have to make a turn to come at them broadside to use their cannons, but the royal fleet had already made that turn to line up. 

"What are they doing?" Hogun demanded as the lead ship came straight at them. "That's full sail."

"They intend to ram _Jormungandr_ ," Strange told her urgently, clasping his amulet in one hand.

"Oh shit, you're right, that's exactly what that crazy bastard is going to do, isn't it?" They weren't going to turn to broadside, they were simply going to ram their ship into _Jormungandr_. They had nothing to lose, now that they'd been found out, and perhaps they knew Thor or Loki were on that ship so it had been targeted.

"You have to stop them," Strange told her. She froze for a second, knowing what he was asking: to break the line, to go after another ship on her own, which was not her orders. 

But trust him, he knew. So she had no choice. To save Thor she would do worse.

"SAILS AHOY," she yelled and dove for the wheel, to turn the rudder and pull them out of the line. 

"Captain, what are you doing? We have to hold the line!" Hogun exclaimed.

"Not if we broadside them before they can hit _Jormungandr_. Ready, starboard cannon!" she yelled and the order was echoed below to load and ready. 

It would take them out of position but if that ship hit _Jormungandr_ amidship, the ship would be destroyed, and knowing these monsters they'd either kill everyone aboard or set it on fire. But not if she got to them first. 

Hogun snapped to, to order the trisail into the full position to take them a bit farther away for speed, to tack again and slide next to them. 

The timing had to be perfect, and the skill had to be extraordinary to catch them at the right moment. If the _Valkyrie_ was late, they would slip behind the enemy leeward and have to try to hit their stern. Which was possible but far less damaging.

But when they made the tack and angled back toward the enemy, she bit her lip and smiled in triumph, already knowing she had done it. "All hands, ready! Fire!" 

The enemy cannons fired, too, but she had the better distance and the better guns that tore right into their hull, while theirs whacked the plating on her aft hull and tore a hole into the forward topsail and the rigging. But the other ship looked as if a giant had clawed it to bits, wood sprayed all over the side and visible holes into the hold.

But the hands were ready, throwing the corner sail against the wind as Hogun threw the rudder over. The ship creaked, and the mast complained as the wind was now a brake throwing them back from their forward motion. 

The crew was already reloading and she called, "Fire!" 

The guns bellowed again, tearing into the enemy ship without mercy. The main mast blew apart like matchsticks, and the aft quarterdeck had a hole exploded into it. Best of all it was no longer striking for _Jormungandr_ at all, but dead in the water. 

The other ships on the interior of the line had engaged more conventionally and their guns fired as well. The enemy ships were no match for the admiral's warship or the admiral's tactics as the line blew them apart. By the time one was trying to limp through the hole she'd left in the line, the _Valkyrie_ was moving back into position to block its attempt to flee out the mouth of the bay. 

_Jormungandr_ came up behind that fleeing ship and fired its quarterdeck gun straight up the keel-line, with a perfect shot longitudinally through the hold. She winced, knowing that had just killed all or most of the gunners down there, and then had to cover her face, as the powder went up in a fireball. Sailors dove overboard to escape and she ordered the crew ready to fish out survivors. 

"What a shot," Hogun said in admiration as they watched it burn. 

Then it was mopping up with the enemy ships surrendering and their sailors rescued from the sea. 

But in the end, they found out only Midnight and Corvus were there of the Black Order, and both were dead. Neither Ebony or Thanos were present and no one would reveal or knew where they were. 

"You saved us with that crazy stunt!" Thor exclaimed as she climbed aboard the flagship to conference. He embraced her roughly. "My sister is the best officer in the navy!" he proclaimed. "The boldest!" 

She rolled her eyes. "Not your sister, yet." 

He laughed. "That is the only part you deny? Here, for you!" He thrust a cup with something that smelled delightful and she downed it.

They conferenced on the flagship, and the king heard all this. "Then we take Titan castle," he decided. "If the rat will not come out of the hole, I will dig him out." 

_Sleipnir_ stayed in the bay to guard their back, while _Valkyrie_ and _Jormungandr_ sailed up the river Titan. It was a broad deep river, and with the rains already started it flowed swift and strong, and they had to wait a few hours to get decent wind but after that it was not difficult. 

The king was now on her ship, and Odin's single eye watched carefully from the prow beside her as they went up the river.

It broadened a bit as it made a turn, and in the bend on a hill stood the fortress of Titan Castle. It was a relic of an older time, with a tower keep to the back and a curtain wall facing the river. 

"Heavy walls," she murmured. 

"Not built to withstand broadside of cannon," he replied. "I was inside once as a younger man. The curtain wall is hollow, not fill." 

She stirred, but then settled back down. It was curiosity, nothing more, and the king had other things on his mind. But his expression was kind. "Captain?"

"I was just wondering, Your Grace. Since you were inside.... The dark place in Loki's nightmares. Do you know what he's talking about?" 

He turned away, hands seizing the rail. "Indeed I do. In the lower basement of the keep, there is an old well. I believe that is where he was imprisoned. The Vanir call it an oubliette." 

It was in the dungeon beneath the keep tower. Not something her cannon could reach. That was disappointing. "I see. Thank you." 

"Thanos will die, Sif. Whether by our guns here, or if not now, then I will have his head in the capital. He will not escape justice." 

"You could throw him in his own oubliette," she suggested. "And brick it shut."

"You have an excellent sense of revenge, yet I think something public is required," he told her. She nodded, having to agree with that, even if she wanted something much slower. His eye judged the distance and added, "When we're in range, _Valkyrie_ is the lead." 

"Aye, Your Grace." She nodded and turned to give the order to send the message. 

He was right. The walls were not nearly as solid as they looked, as twenty guns fired at them in a deafening roar. At first the cannonballs hit only small holes and clipped crenellations as they fixed the angles, but the next fusillade was nearly perfect and took out a chunk of the entire curtain wall, knocking it backward into rubble across the inner courtyard. 

"No action from your sorcerous traitor," she remarked to Strange. "Are you as bothered as I am by that? Maybe they've fled already." 

"He wasn't a particularly brave person," Strange allowed, but frowned up at the keep. "But I think it's a trap. Cornered rats are desperate. I need to go with them." He nodded toward the marines, gathering on deck.

"I wish I could go with you," she murmured. But she knew she couldn't. The ship was her command.

"We will end this," Strange reassured her.

"Marines, prepare for landing!" she called. Fandral saluted and the marines boarded the small boats let down into the water on the water-side of the ship out of sight of the tower. 

"One more shot," the king commanded. "Let's clear the way for them." 

Canons roared again, offering cover as the row boats headed into shore. 

She clenched her jaw in worry.

This was intolerable, watching from the water like this. The fighters defended themselves from the small boats as they drove the hulls up on the bank beneath the break in the wall. Strange seemed to be providing some cover of a magical shield as there was a counter attack from the walls, but Fandral's men had muskets and were good shots enough to take out the opposition. 

"Mm," Odin said from beside her. "I think I may have to keep the doctor around. Never have I seen the like. To think I believed he only did fireworks."

She chuckled at that, remembering. "As did I. Thankfully he told Thor otherwise, or," her amusement drifted away, "or we'd not have found Loki, I think. Nor freed him. If I may, Majesty, I would beg you to give the doctor his freedom from command for what he has done for Loki."

A bright blue eye rested on her, then he nodded. "That is so, Captain. I will let him have his choice, if he wishes obscurity it is not my place to force otherwise, not when he did such a great favor to me." 

"To us. Even now." She gestured toward the fight now moving within the curtain wall and the well-disciplined movements of Fandral's team.

For a little while there was little to see, as the fight disappeared inside the fortress. But abruptly a sheet of flame, as high as the tower, shot upward with a tremendous hiss. 

She recoiled, dragging the king with her by instinct, away. It was immediately obvious the ship was not touched, and she let go, immediately, stammering apologies for manhandling the king. 

He brushed off the front of his padded tunic. "No harm, Captain. I would rather you try to save me from nonexistent harm than refuse to move if actual harm was present." 

Relieved that she'd done the acceptable thing, she smiled tentatively, but then her eye was caught. What was actually happening in the fortress? It did not seem to be an explosion, since she saw no change in the structure, even to the flag atop the keep. Something magical, then. Hopefully the doctor was alright.

There were other bursts of fire, and the noise of gunfire and yelling drifting across the water, but it felt oddly removed. Sif missed the maneuvering and tactics of the sea battle, rather than this dull waiting at anchor for other people to do the fighting. 

The cry went up from the crow's-nest first, "Flag!" 

She whipped out her spyglass and saw someone was on top of the tower now, and tore down the flag of the House of Thanos. Then it was like a miracle -- the flag of Asgard rose in its place. "Majesty, look!" She handed the spyglass to the king who looked for himself. 

"Ah, well done, lieutenant," he murmured. "I shall have to make him, what, an earl? What think you, future daughter?" Odin asked. 

She laughed softly. "He is already the son of an earl, Sire."

It was with amusing shock that the king slowly lowered the spyglass to look at her. "He is what? Son of whom?" 

"Bastard son of the Earl of Corona, I was told, Your Grace." 

"Ah, then perhaps I should legitimize him for his service. I will have to look into it. Come, he would not put up the banner if it were not safe. Let us go ashore." 

In some consternation, she had no choice but follow along and do as the king wished, and all too soon they were in the water and she had a couple sailors row them across. 

Heedless of his fine boots, the king splashed into the water and turned to offer her hand out, even though it probably should have been the other way around.

She had her sword and a pistol, but still felt painfully aware that the king's safety was in her hands as the few of her men gathered around as guards. This place had done unspeakable harm to Loki and probably others over the years.

But Strange came out to meet them, with a bow for the king. "Lieutenant Fandral and I have secured the keep, Majesty."

"Excellent, Doctor. Our foes?"

"Both captured, Sire. Restrained and gagged, awaiting your orders." 

"Oh, even better," Odin said with dark anticipation. "Lead me there."

There were bodies, mostly the mercenaries and others in Thanos' employ as they walked in. Some dead without a blow struck, and Sif presumed they too had taken poison instead of being captured.

"How did they not take the poison?" she asked curiously. "Why let themselves be captured?"

He snorted in disdain. "That was for others, apparently, not for them. They took nothing." He glanced at the king. "We found a girl, Your Grace. She claimed to be Thanos' daughter, but I was not aware he had offspring. She is - well, you'll see. If she is his daughter, she was not treated kindly."

Odin frowned. "He has no legitimate children. But that does not mean he had none, I suppose. Or perhaps this was another cruel game of his." 

She grimaced. That sounded more like Thanos than his having any actual blood relative.

Strange led the way up the steps through the open doorway, that had once had a door that now lay off its hinges to the side of the hall behind it. The stone tunnel became a spiral stairs and they went up a level to a large space taking up most of that floor of the main keep with a large hearth at one end, wooden beams to support its ceiling, and a two long tables pushed aside.

Perhaps it was knowing a little about what Loki had suffered in this palace, but the walls seemed to exude some cold evil. There was only plain stone, undressed, with no comfort, only harshness and deep shadows. 

Kneeling on the floor, under guard, were the two men. She remembered Thanos was a big man, tall and broad as Thor, which he was, and looked even bigger wearing a silver-chased cuirass over his padded tunic. The other man was thin, and looked like a monk all in black and his head shaved. Both were chained hand and foot and gagged as well. 

Thanos sat back on his heels, raising his chin defiantly as he saw the King enter. 

"Well done, Lieutenant Fandral," the king praised him, who was standing guard behind the two with his sword drawn.

"Thank you, Sire." 

"And you." Odin turned his attention to Thanos and his voice became cold and stern. "I pronounce you a traitor, Malekith Thanos. Your title is forfeit. Your lands are forfeit. Your holdings are forfeit. The entirety of Titan is now returned to the Crown. You have nothing. You will be dragged back to the capital, and you shall be executed before the palace and your head shall adorn Traitor's Gate as a warning. Prepare him to be transferred to the brig of the _Sleipnir_." Fandral nodded to the guards to take Thanos away. 

"And you, outlander," he addressed Ebony. "You are worse than a traitor. You are a viper and I do not suffer vipers to live. Captain Sif, your sword." 

She unsheathed it and handed it to the king without objection. The man's eyes widened in terror, though she couldn't believe he was really that surprised. Maybe he thought he'd have more time.

He tried to say something through his gag, but it was garbled. 

"I'm told you worship Death," the king said. "I hope that's true, because you will meet her soon." 

The king was no longer young, but he had more strength than Sif would ever have expected. She thought he was going to try to behead Ebony, even though her sword was too light for that, but of course he knew better.

The blade struck fast and true, just under the chin, and sliced his neck open to the bone. His hands lifted as much as they were able, as if to stop the sudden flow of blood, and shortly he collapsed forward.

Odin handed her the sword back, not taking his eyes off the slumped figure. "Seldom have I felt quite such a sense of justice," he murmured. Then he addressed Fandral. "When this monster is dead, remove and box his head. We will take it back with us for Traitor's Gate. If Loki wishes to view his tormentor's visage, I will let him have that opportunity." 

"Aye, Your Majesty." 

He addressed her next. "Captain, I need you to find his accounts and whatever treasure there is in this keep. It belongs to the Crown now." He paused at the sound of another entering the room, also under guard. 

Her sword still unsheathed, Sif turned to face the woman who entered under guard. She was young, Sif thought, though it was hard to tell. Her head had been shaved, and there was a scar on her scalp from a burn. Her gown was little better than a shapeless sack on her slim body, barely held up by the neck, and her manacled wrists were bony. She was very pale, and her eyes sunken from privation. She fell to her knees. "Your Majesty, bless you." 

His face softening with pity, the king regarded her. "And you are?"

"Nebula, Your Majesty. I was... called ... his daughter. He called me that."

"And are you?" Odin asked. 

"I don't know, I can't know, Sire. All I know is this place. No others. But I would ask- I beg you, sir, to allow me to watch him die." 

"Because?" Odin asked.

"Because of what he did. What he made me do. What I was, because of him." Her hands were bound, but she could still touch her head. "He threw hot oil on me. Beat me. Made me do... Let his... servants... do things..." she looked down, unable to finish. "Please, sir, I swear I will trouble you no more after I see his end."

"I cannot refuse such a justified request. However, for the safety of others and because I know how deeply that viper's poison can sink, you will not be free until he is dead, in case this is a ploy."

"Yes, Your Majesty, I understand. You are wise. I thank you." 

"She will travel with us, Captain, housed securely," the king ordered. "Find something fit for her to wear. I would not keep my dog is such a state." 

Sif nodded sharply and gestured Nebula and her two guards to come with her.

The rest of the afternoon and the day after were spent in clearing the fortress and packing its treasures. By bright torch light, she found the round lid in the keep basement and the deep hole beneath it with the steep sides. There was a basket and a pulley mechanism for letting things down and for pulling something - someone - out. 

It was deep and cold and damp, and if there were no lamps or torches, it would be pitch dark. And her beloved had spent days - weeks, months, she didn't know if Loki himself knew how long it had been - in that pit.

It was horrible and chilling, and filled her with rage to see it. She wanted to blow it up, but failing that, she called several of her men to her and had them fill it with fallen stones from the broken wall. It would never be used again if she could manage.

Thor and the king both came by to watch, satisfied to see it destroyed, and the king murmured, "After the fortress has been stripped and its food stores and supplies given to the people nearby, I want it torched so no one lives here ever again."

Pleased by the order, she turned to him and nodded. "I'll see to it, Your Majesty."

And so it was done. After being picked clean by a grateful populace who had not enjoyed the predations and forced recruitment of their lord, Titan Castle was set on fire. 

She watched it burn from the deck of the _Valkyrie_ , grimly satisfied by their victory. Thanos himself was imprisoned in the hold of the _Sleipnir_ , Ebony was dead, and she couldn't wait to tell Loki that the keep was collapsing as its beams burned. The doctor gave it a nudge or two with his powers, and she beamed, as he insured it would be a total ruin.

Soon there was nothing left but the broken outer wall and a pile of rubble, and they set sail for home. 


	8. The finale

From the prow as the ship came into dock, Sif could see the guards in livery standing around the black-haired prince, seated on a grey horse. If not for the horse, she might be tempted to think he had been waiting here the whole time, since it appeared he was wearing the same green coat. Frigga had removed all the dark colors from his wardrobe, and Sif thought it might be a long time before he wore any of them again.

The instant the ramp went down, she saw him dismount, and she rushed past her sailors to get to land. The prince should probably greet his father the king first, and she probably should tend to her ship, but neither of them cared about that. He found her, pushing his guards out of his way to grab her in his arms.

"You're safe! Thank God." He lifted her off her feet and twirled her around once, his expression utterly transformed by joy. 

"We won!" she told him, but that was all she had time to say before his mouth was on hers, and she wanted to do only that. Maybe forever. 

It was only the sound of whistling and some crude shouts of what they could do in the bedchamber, that broke into her awareness and made them push back from each other. He swallowed hard, and his eyes searched hers for embarrassment, but there was none. 

Her fingers wouldn't leave his face, smoothing his cheeks. "I'm so glad to see you." 

"I'm glad you're home," he told her, smiling with love and relief that she had come home safely. 

She waited until they were alone to tell the whole story, sitting on a bench in the garden. He liked all of it, and he was profoundly grateful and reassured that Ebony was dead, and the castle was destroyed, if a little disturbed that Thanos was in the city, held in the Tower. 

He wanted nothing to do with the "daughter" and refused to talk about or to her, but he agreed to attend Thanos' execution as long as she stood nowhere near him. 

In the plaza before the gates of the palace, a platform was built and at the appointed hour, a crowd started to form. The royal guards in their livery formed a barrier in front of the platform and lining the access to the platform, as the family, including Sif, dismounted their carriages and made their way to the platform. 

The Lord Justice called out the crimes and the sentence-- Thanos was guilty of abducting the prince and piracy on the high seas, and his titles and lands and honors and life were all forfeit. Then Thanos was brought to the platform in simple garb, a prayer was said for his soul, and the executioner's axe took his head off. 

At her side, Loki watched, vibrating with tension, his jaw tight with the effort to show nothing of his upset at the sight of Thanos' face. She held his hand, trying to help him stay grounded and present, that he was not there with his tormentor. But at the moment Thanos died, Loki relaxed and let out a breath of relief, closing his eyes.

He seized her in a tight embrace, burying his face in her shoulder, and she held him tightly. 

At last it was over. 

* * *

The wedding dawned perfectly, a spring day with no rain and few clouds, only brilliant skies and sunlight. 

Sif and the queen rode together in the bridal carriage at the back of the procession to the cathedral. The cheers were buoying her, but even so her nerves would not stop quivering. She was nearly lying down across one of the benches since her bodice was so stiff it was hard to sit down and she wasn't supposed to wrinkle the front. The position was doing little to stop her stomach from making uncomfortable twists esp when they hit a bump in the road.

Frigga peeked out the window. "Almost there, my dear." 

"Oh," she groaned. "Who thought this was romantic and delightful? I'm going to be ill."

Grasping Sif's hand the queen said, "Once it starts, it all passes in a blur. I remembered very little of my ceremony itself, even right after it happened."

"I'm sure it was very beautiful," Sif said.

"Not as lovely as this. That was after Asgard had put down the Jotunheim uprising." She lifted her brows and added in a thoughtful voice, "Which was mostly Titan back then, as well. I think that's why the king finally extinguished Titan. To try to put a stop to that. But enough," she shook her head and smiled at Sif. "This is your happy day, and I am overjoyed that you are finally joining the family officially, my dearest girl, the daughter I never had but you are in my heart." She pressed her hand to her chest, and Sif felt her eyes prick with tears from the gesture. 

"Thank you," she managed, lip quivering. "You have always been so kind to me." 

Frigga's smile turned a bit impish. "And we are not finished, yet." 

Sif found that curious, but had little time to consider it as the carriage halted and thence began The Wedding. 

She was handed out of the carriage to the cheers of the gathered throng who had come to see the beautiful princess, and her ladies from another carriage hurried up to help arrange her train on the carpet to climb the cathedral steps. 

Loki, and his father had already entered - on this day, no one was more important than the bride, not even the king or prince. Thor lingered behind in his formal sea-foam satin coat with voluminous lace cravat and he gave Sif a grin and discreet thumbs up. He offered his mother his arm to escort her in all her finery up the steps and inside. 

Sif was handed her bouquet, other ladies scattered flower petals, and she saw the sign to proceed. Walking with slow deliberation, since she had been warned to be very careful in this ridiculous gown, she found each step and then on the top hesitated for the trumpets to blow to herald her presence.

Her stomach was all a-flutter, but she reminded herself she had fought sea battles and this was quite easy by comparison. That didn't make the nerves settle much, but it did help.

At the signal, she passed through the open main doors and straight into the vestibule and could see through the open doors to the nave. Everyone was standing, so she could only see straight ahead to the main altar, which was piled with flowers. The bishop stood there, most visible, and there was Doctor Strange as their honored guest on the aisle, near the front. He gave a nod seeing that her attention was on him, and she knew the wedding would be safe, if he were there. But for a moment her heart stopped, not seeing Loki. 

But there he was, as he stepped into view. He was wearing all white with golden embroidery on his long-tailed coat to match her white gown. His black hair was tied back more simply than her own ornate raised style but they made a set and it made her smile to see that he stood in a shaft of light from the high windows. The look on his face was one she knew she would treasure forever, as he stared at her amazed and enthralled as she walked slowly toward him. 

It was a dream. People moved in and out of her sight, except for Loki. He was there, finally the day they had planned all those years ago was happening. 

Very deliberately once he came to meet her before the altar, she paused, and pulled back her skirt enough to show him her satin shoe. She'd pinned a red leaf there from the garden, and when he finally dropped his gaze to find what she was insisting he look at, he nearly laughed aloud, having to bite his lip to keep it back, but his eyes were shining and the smile was irrepressible on his lips.

His hands took both of hers, and she couldn't tell which one of them was trembling but it stopped as soon as they clasped hands. 

The bishop spoke words and she repeated the vows he fed her. The only words she clearly remembered was Loki's voice repeating the bishop's line, "I, Loki Odinson, Prince of Asgard..." He hesitated only slightly, fingers shaking from the memory of torment, but he declared his name clearly for all to hear. She smiled and squeezed his hands in joy. 

They knelt for the blessing. Then the King moved forward to perform the coronation of his son's bride as his princess.

The king announced, "As a wedding gift, I grant my son the title and rank of Prince of Jotunheim."

At her side, Loki gasped, while she stared in shock at the unexpected words. This had not been told to either of them at all. 

This close she could see the king's mouth quiver with a suppressed amusement at their surprise. He seemed very proud of himself, the old fox. 

The king continued, addressing both them and the audience with a firm commanding voice, "The ancient title is now restored for his line, and shall include the holdings of the duchy of Titan which is now extinguished. Prince Loki has proven his worth and his strength, and I believe he shall be able to govern and hold Jotunheim as part of the crown patrimony in his heirs with his lady, Princess Sif." 

Sif stared up at him, shocked. The king smiled down at her. 

"And in token of this--" The king gestured to Thor to step forward. The prince, beaming with delight, carried a red satin pillow, on which rested a golden circlet. Odin held it up so all could see the distinctive rubies. "This is the Crown of Laufey, taken in conquest four hundred years ago by my ancestor King Bor the Great. And now it goes to my son, Loki, hereafter His Royal Highness, Prince of Jotunheim, and there is a matching crown for his new bride, Princess Sif, renowned captain of the _Valkyrie_." 

Loki bowed his head to receive it, as Odin set it on his head and then did the same for Sif with a gold tiara set also with a ruby. The tiara was not thick, but felt very heavy on her head. 

The bishop began the final prayer, but Sif heard little of it, stunned by the king's gesture. She had never expected anything so grand, since Loki's 'value' was primarily as back-up heir for Thor and he was supposed to have few of the future duties of rule and power. But now, it seemed, the king was divesting himself of some of the realm and sending Loki and Sif as their rulers, now that Thanos and Titan were both gone.

Loki's hand wormed into hers and she smiled, anxiety passing away with the touch. They were together now, and nothing would ever part them again. 

The bishop had them rise to pronounce them wed. 

"And now you may kiss!" the bishop proclaimed. 

She needed no more encouragement, throwing herself, gown and crown and all, into her new husband's arms to kiss and be kissed, in front of the king and queen and a crowd of several hundred. The bells pealed in joy and pushed away all the shadows.

* * *

After the wedding feast and celebration at the palace, she and Loki climbed the grand staircase hand in hand to go to their new suite as husband and wife. They parted to undress and make ready.

Her maid removed Sif's third gown of the day and Sif was glad to have it off, for her comfortable loose shift. She sat at the vanity to start taking down her hair, and Loki entered, in a long nightshirt. It was the most undressed she'd ever seen him, and she couldn't help staring in the mirror. He stood behind her to help with her hair, gently running his fingers through each lock to find the pins. It was very soothing after such an exhausting day.

"I didn't have a chance to ask earlier, but are you all right with this?" she asked, tapping the tiara she'd removed first. It would go back in the armoury until the second coronation up there. "Prince of Jotunheim? That means we would have to move north."

He didn't answer right away, thinking, and then nodded. "Father and I did talk about it, not that holding specifically, but he asked if I wanted an estate to hold as my own, and I said yes, of course. I would like to be my own master, not be his child in his palace for the rest of my life. I suppose that's what he wanted to know. And ... as for the north," he took her hand and drew her around on the bench to face him. "It helped a great deal to know Titan Castle is destroyed. The rest of the realm, I have no quarrel with."

"Though they may have one with us," she returned, and it was not a problem to take lightly. 

"We will show them our value," he promised. "As long as you're with me, I see no reason we should not be successful. And I think they will be wary of crossing the Pirate Prince and the Sea Captain," he said, lips curling in amusement she matched.

At the celebration, they had listened to a performance of the new ballad growing in popularity about them. It had been, of course, only a story, including a swordfight between them that ended in a kiss. She rather wished that had actually happened.

"They won't know what to do with us, will they?" She stood up, and since he didn't move back, she was right up against him. 

He chuckled. "No. But that is to our advantage." 

"My clever Pirate Prince," she murmured and tilted her face. "Kiss me, husband. We have waited long enough for this night." 

His fingers drew a light line down her cheek and she shivered. "Indeed we have."

"I believe you promised me a place where it could be only you and me, and the rest of the world no longer mattered," she whispered. 

"You remember that?" 

"I remember every word," she promised. "I thought they might be the only words you ever spoke to me, the only time you kissed me," she reminded him. 

"I'm here now," he whispered, and his long fingers opened the tiny buttons of her shift, one by one. "And I will never leave you again. Not until that far off day we are both old, our children grown, and you and I fall into that final sleep, hand in hand." 

She nodded, liking the sound of that. "Together." 

As usual, they kept the lamp burning to keep the dark away, but in this first night of the rest of their lives together, the light revealed only life and love.

_the end._


End file.
